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Causes and Consequences 

of the 

War of 1914 



By 
HOWARD PITCHER OKIE 

Member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of New York 

and of the Honorable Society of 

Lincolns Inn (Eng.) 



ILLUSTRATED BY SEVEN MAPS 



1914 

THE WASHINGTON PUBLISHING COMPANY 

MUNSEY BUILDING 
WASHINGTON, D. C, U. S. A. 






Copyright, 1914 

BY 

Howard Pitcher Okie 



^National Capital Press, Inc. 

Book Manufacturers 

Washington, D. C. 



OCT 30 i 9 14 

CU388181 



d.iT* 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Chapter. Page 

I. Introductory 7 

II. Causes of the War 18 

III. The Great Powers Are Involved.... 30 

IV. England's Intervention 33 

V. Germany's Side of the Controversy 64 

VI. England's Declaration of War 70 

VII. England's Colonies 84 

VIII. Land Forces 86 

IX. The Sea Power 92 

X. Financial Resources of the Great 

Powers 96 

XL Food Supplies of the Belligerent 

Powers 107 

XII. Consequences of the War 110 

Appendix 121 



INDEX TO MAPS 



Page. 

Map of Europe Infold 

Geographical Distribution of Teutons and 

Slavs 25 

Servia Before and After the Balkan War 

(2 Maps) 27 

The German Colonies. : 112 

Map of Poland Before Dismemberment 115 

Races in Austria-Hungary 118 



CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF 
THE WAR OF 1914 

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTORY 

As this book goes to the press, Belgium, the 
importance of whose existence as a factor in the 
maintenance of European peace can not be over- 
estimated, is in the possession of Germany. If this 
occupation is continued, it means that forty miles 
instead of three hundred and forty miles will sep- 
arate Germany from England, and that the little 
island will, while that condition continues, be in 
danger of being over-run by the invading forces 
of her Teuton neighbor. England is not adapted 
to the permanent maintenance of a large body of 
regular troops. Such a burden would impose an 
impossible drain upon her industrial life. She has 
regarded distance from her most powerful conti- 
nental rival as one of two indispensable attributes 
of safety; her fleet was the other.- No treaty with 
Belgium or France had to be invoked to spur 
Britain on to war when the littoral of the English 
Channel was menaced by German occupation. 
Self-preservation caused her, first, to endeavor to 
have Germany regard the neutrality of Belgium 



8 Causes and Consequences 

as inviolate and to confine her operations in France 
to the southern and central provinces, and, second, 
when such efforts had failed to enter upon this 
battle for her very existence. 

A citizen of another state may assume that 
England has guaged her position correctly; if she 
has — if the oft expressed forebodings of Lord 
Roberts find fulfilment — then England, in spite 
of all her glorious achievements in the cause of 
liberty and human advancement; the abolition of 
slavery in her own colonies by honorable pur- 
chase not by a fratricidal war; her suppresion of 
the slave trade in the Atlantic, and of piracy in 
the Yellow Seas; her noble work in Egypt, where 
millions have cause to bless her for daily bread; 
her unselfish exercise of her unpaid and thankless 
task as "policeman of the world;" in spite of all 
these works — and many others — this champion of 
the oppressed and exemplar of popular liberty may 
be effaced from the political map of the World. 
This once solid rock of human liberty may yet 
be hurled into outer space and darkness to find 
her last affinities in silence and in cold. 

The facts underlying this war are certain. 
Probably, never before has there been so little 
conflict in regard to the statement of premises. 
Hence, from the diplomatic correspondence which 
I have inserted in this volumn, in extenso, one 



of the War of 1914 9 

reading it carefully, may be in a position of 
absolute knowledge. The opposing nations have 
drawn (as you or I may draw) different conclu- 
sions from the same facts. For example, Russia 
and Germany are agreed that Russia mobilized 
her troops near the German frontier during the 
course of negotiations. The agreement stops 
there. Russia contends that her mobilization 
was not threatening in character, but a purely 
defensive measure dictated only by prudence; 
that the means of transportation within her vast 
empire were not so adequate as those possessed by 
her western neighbors and she could not — if 
avoidable — take an even start with them. Ger- 
many took an entirely different view of Russia's 
action and made that a cause of war which may 
have been only a legitimate exercise of prevision 
and caution. 

It is certain that Germany and England desired 
to keep the peace with each other; but, some one 
country blundered; to place the responsibility, one 
must know what transpired between the several 
countries in the shape of official communications 
exchanged between their accredited representatives. 
One who is not disposed to take the trouble in- 
volved in the acquisition of this knowledge should 
at least keep out of the argument. Here is an 
illustration: In the left hand column below is 



10 



Causes and Consequences 



Mr. Bernard Shaw's criticism of his government. 
In the column parallel to it is an excerpt from 
official documents which were readily available to 
Mr. Shaw when he wrote his diatribe. 



From an article by Mr. Bernard 
Shaw appearing in the American 
Press, September 6, 1914: 

"Had the government or the 
labor party had a real modern 
foreign policy, Mr. Asquith might 
have said fearlessly to Prussian 
militarism: 'If you attempt to 
smash France, we two will smash 
you if we can. But if you will 
drop your mailed fist nonsense and 
be neighborly, we will guarantee 
you against Russia just as heartily 
as we now guarantee France 
against you.' Can it be doubted 
that if this had been said reso- 
lutely, and with the vigorous sup- 
port of all sections of the house, 
Potsdam would have thought 
twice and thrice before declaring 
war?" 



Extract from a letter from Sir 
Edward Grey to Sir William 
Goschen (Ambassador to Ger- 
many), dated July 29, 1914: 

"I said to the German Ambas- 
sador (in London), this morning 
that if Germany could get any 
reasonable proposal put forward 
which made it clear that Germany 
and Austria were striving to pre- 
serve European peace, and that 
Russia and France would be un- 
reasonable if they rejected it, / 
would support it at St. Petersburg 
and Paris, and go the length of 
saying that if Russia and France 
would not accept it his Majesty's 
Government would have nothing 
more to do with the consequence, 
but otherwise, I told German 
Ambassador that if France be- 
came involved we should be 
drawn in. (Vide p. 44.) 



The language in the right hand column is 
simply a paraphrase of Mr. Shaw's proposition, 
with only those inevitable differences which dis- 
tinguish the language of statecraft from that of 
popular journalism. 

It was not the original purpose of the author to 



of the War of 1914 11 

touch upon the subject of the interdependence of 
nations with similar ideals of human liberty; but, 
the fact that an active anti-English propaganda 
is now being carried on in the United States is 
irresistibly provocative. 

Within a clearly defined limit the advocacy of 
the German cause in America is decidedly useful. 
It clears away numerous doubts and shows sharply 
and clearly the totally different aspects of the 
moral obligations of one who is a citizen of a free 
country from those of one who acknowledges the 
sovereignty of another who rules by "divine right." 

The "case for Germany'' in this country has 
been entrusted to able hands; to men who have 
distinguished themselves in science, arms, com- 
merce and journalism. That the arguments put 
forth by them are puerile in the extreme is not 
sufficient to overcome a presumption of their 
wisdom which rests upon their past performances 
in their respective fields of employment. 

It does, however, have the disquieting effect of 
making us believe that certain distinguished sci- 
entists, soldiers, men of affairs and journalists 
regard us as fools. 

Take a concrete instance of this advocacy. In 
a recent message from Mr. Herman Ridder, which 
appeared originally in his paper, the New Yorker 
Staats-Zeitung, but which has been reprinted in the 



12 Causes and Consequences 

American papers with an unanimity that is wonder- 
ful in view of the fact that he describes them 
as an "English-tainted press;" he seeks to revive 
to Germany's advantage the quarrel which the 
American Colonies had with the "mother country" 
some hundred and fifty years ago. 

The people of the United States have not brooded 
over that quarrel. Their time has been too fully 
occupied with other things; but, as the Teutonic 
protagonists seem to think that it would be well 
for their cause, let us go back to our school days. 

In the last half of the eighteenth century the 
British throne was occupied by King George, a 
fat, foolish, German Prince, the third of the 
Hanover line. He succeeded his grandfather, 
George the Second, a German who never be- 
came sufficiently English to speak that lan- 
guage; the mother of George the Third was a 
German woman, the Princess Augusta, daughter 
of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; at the period 
during which he reigned, kings governed in Eng- 
land, as they do today in Germany, by "divine 
right," and, when George, in his sublime egotism 
and folly, pursued an oppressive course toward 
the handful of his subjects then forming the 
American Colonies, the English people who sub- 
scribed to his belief in- kingly infallibility had no 
course but to acquiesce, save that now and again 



of the War of 1914 13 

a Pitt or a Burke gave ineffectual tongue in the 
House of Commons to the British conscience which 
had no adequate means to express itself at the 
polls. When in the course of his war against the 
American colonies it seemed necessary to George 
the Third to utilize the services of paid assassins to 
devastate the hearths and homes of those of whom 
he was the sworn protector, he turned to his own — 
really his own — country, Germany, and thousands 
of professional murderers were readily recruited to 
wage a merciless war upon a people with whom 
they had no quarrel — of whose very existence they 
had been previously ignorant. 

There are old men alive today in New Jersey 
who can tell tales that came first-hand from their 
grandfather's lips of atrocities committed by the 
Hessians which will reflect in many details the 
cruelties inflicted by the German troops upon the 
peace-loving Belgians of this very day, whose 
only crime is that they put their national honor 
above an ignoble love of peace. 

The foregoing is not a pretty or pleasant story. 
The people of this country were glad to forget 
the whole horrible affair of the German invasion 
of America. That an intelligent man should de- 
liberately recall it, in the expressed hope that it 
would advance Germany in the sympathies of the 
American people, is surprising. It is an extreme 
instance of unwise advocacy. 



14 Causes and Consequences 

When the never-robust mind of George the 
Third gave away to utter madness, there was, in 
England, born the new era of national — as dis- 
tinguished from individual — responsibility. From 
the days of the Regency, England has had no 
trouble with her Colonies; she also entered, at 
that eventful period, upon an era of international 
peace (since unbroken upon the continent of 
Europe save by the Crimean War), that was un- 
exampled during her previous life under kings 
who ruled as well as reigned and which continued 
down to that night of the 3rd of August, 1914, when 
the German eagles entered the peaceful plains and 
villages of Belgium. 

Again; the bugbear of Pan-Slavism is invoked 
to frighten us — vicariously. It would seem that 
those engaged in advocating Germany's cause in 
America must realize that we are a highly educated 
people. Why address to us arguments which could 
only appeal to — say, the inhabitants of Western 
China — Thibet? When have "a people" destroyed 
the world's peace? 

France did not devastate Europe during the 
period of the Napoleonic wars. Napoleon, in his 
vain attempt to establish "a dynasty" led his 
polyglot army for the glory of the house of Bona- 
parte, not for the peculiar aggrandisement of the 
French. The peace of the world has no reason to 



of the War of 1914 15 

fear the Teutons, except they be the blind instru- 
ment of a Hohenzollern or a Hapsburg. The erec- 
tion of a great Slav Empire south and east of Prus- 
sia may retard the expression of the ambition of 
an individual ruler to the north and west. It will 
not stop human progress. We have no fear of 
Demos; it is Ego, with his murderous cult of the 
unimportance of the masses and of the suprem- 
acy of the individual when the progress of a 
kingly ruler is concerned, from whom we rush to 
shield ourselves. If the new Slav state will be used 
disastrously to further the personal ambitions of 
Nicholas of Russia and other wars result, our 
tears will be shed for suffering humanity, not 
because of the diminishing of the glory of the other 
ruling European house. 

One other instance will suffice to show the total 
inability of the adherent of military autocracy as 
represented by the supporters of Germany in this 
war, to understand the view point of the American. 

England is attacked because when in occupation 
of India she punished certain of those responsible 
for the "black hole of Calcutta" with instantane- 
ous death. They were fastened to the mouths of 
cannons and blown to pieces. Civilization has 
made much progress since then, but is yet unable 
to suggest a death more painless and swift. If 
men of the Southern States of America had to 



16 Causes and Consequences 

avenge the murderers and ravishers of their wives 
and daughters as did the British officials who de- 
vised this punishment, it would have taken a more 
unpleasant form. But, in order to understand 
the German view, we must not forget that the 
victims of the sepoys were largely of the civilian 
class, and were innocent of any provocation. If 
in defense of hearth and home an Indian had fired 
upon an invading soldier, in a German uniform, 
it would no doubt, from a German standpoint, 
have been eminently proper for him to receive 
a punishment no more merciful than that which 
the Germans visited upon the civilian defenders 
of Louvaine.* 

This sacro-sanctity of the man in uniform exists 
in the German mind only where the uniform of 
the Kaiser is concerned. That is wholly good, so 
far as it goes. 

During the Boer War, General Kronje and his 
laagers were surrounded and some thousands of 
active combatants, none of whom wore uniforms, 
surrendered to the British. Suppose they had been 
shot out of hand, as were the civilian defenders of 
Belgian and French towns, what a howl of protest 
would have gone up from Germany! And Ger- 
many would have been right. 

In such a wise the spokesmen of Germany's 

* See note p. 124. 



of the War of 1914 17 

cause in this country have spoken the last word in 
foolish advocacy, but even had they spoken "with 
the tongues of angels" they have chosen the wrong 
forum. If they would truly serve Germany, 
Potsdam, not New York, should be the auditorium 
of their eloquence — incidentally it might be the 
scene of their martyrdom. Let them dissuade 
official Germany from the policy of laying mines 
in the open sea to the hazard of neutral shipping; 
from their course of treating heroic civic defenders 
as malefactors; from dropping bombs from a 
height safe to the avialur, upon cosmopolitan 
cities like Antwerp and Paris, and, if they are 
successful, they will have rendered Germany a 
real and substantial service. 



18 Causes and Consequences 



CHAPTER II 
CAUSES OF THE WAR 

From the day upon which Germany rejected 
the offer of Mr. Winston Churchill (the First Lord 
of the British Admiralty), to enter into a truce, 
during which the struggle between the two coun- 
tries for superiority of naval armament would be 
suspended,* war between England and Germany 
has been imminent. The strain upon the two coun- 
tries engaged in the unprofitable rivalry had been 
intolerable. The steadily increasing burden fell 
upon all, and was not made the less wearisome by 
the slightest prospect of relief. Heavy land and 
income taxes were evolved in England and the 
German chancellor was compelled to make a 



* Addressing the House of Commons upon the Naval 
Estimates, March 18, 1912, Mr. Churchill said: "It is 
clear that this principle could be varied to suit the circum- 
stances. Let me make it clear, however, that any retardation 
or reduction in German construction within certain limits 
will be promptly followed here, as soon as it is apparent, by 
large and fully proportionate reduction. For instance, if 
Germany likes to drop out any one, or even two, of these 
dreadnaughts (battleships) from her annual quotas and keep 
her money in her own pocket for the enjoyment of her own 
people and for the development of her own prosperity, we 
will at once, in the absence of any dangerous development 
elsewhere and not now foreseen, drop out our correspond- 
ing quota. All slowing down by Germany will be accom- 
panied, naturally on a larger scale by us." 



of the War of 1914 19 

direct levy, not only upon income, but upon the 
capital of each individual. 

Naval and military rivalry has been the real and 
underlying cause of the Anglo-German conflict. 
Still it is profitable to know the proximate, or im- 
mediate causes of the war, and from them to de- 
termine, each for himself, the responsibility of 
those to whom, by birth or popular choice, have 
been committed the solemn duties of safeguarding 
the welfare of those men, women and children suf- 
fering in this calamitous hour, the awful, the un- 
speakable horrors of war. 

International law is written in treaties and "con- 
ventions . ' ' They embody provisions , which in their 
multiplicity, in the old world, at least, provide a 
rule of conduct for almost every condition arising 
in inter-state relations. Among the most important 
of these sources of the organic law of Europe is 
that known as the Treaty of Berlin. That treaty 
was promulgated in 1878, at the close of Austro- 
Turkish war. The provisions directly related to 
this war of 1914 were: 

1. The creation of a vassal state within the 
territorial limits now known as Bulgaria, with the 
right to the inhabitants to "freely elect" their 
own ' "prince." The suzerain power was Turkey, 
who was empowered to collect a yearly tribute and 
an annual contribution to the Ottoman national 



20 Causes and Consequences 

debt. Neither of these obligations were ever met 
in any degree. 

2. The two Turkish provinces of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina were taken from Turkish control 
and put in the custody of Austria, with a right in 
the dual monarchy of "military occupancy and 
administration. ' ' 

The latter clause of the treaty turned over to 
Austrian stewardship the domestic affairs of nearly 
two million people of Servian stock, for the major 
part adherents of the orthodox Greek Church ; the 
state religion of Austria is Roman Catholic. 

Contemporaneously with the Berlin treaty, 
Austria executed and delivered to Turkey a secret 
protocol, wherein she declared that her occupa- 
tion of the two surrendered provinces would be 
transient and that sooner or later, full Turkish 
sovereignty would be restored. The Berlin Treaty 
made no change in the status of the individual 
citizen of the two provinces and conferred none of 
the rights or obligations of personal sovereignty 
upon the Austrian Emperor and the degree of that 
monarch's suzerainty was jealously watched by 
Russia, acting as the chief protector of the ad- 
herents of the State Church of Russia. 

In spite of the fact that Austria's administration 
of Bosnian affairs was immeasurably better than 
that which had been inflicted upon the inhabi- 



of the War of 1914 21 

tants by Turkey, the population have never ac- 
quiesced in the Austrian domination. Their politi- 
cal hopes looked to a complete political and 
social amalgamation of all the Balkan Serbs, 
those of Southern Austria (where, previous to 
the last Balkan War, there were more Serbs 
than in Servia), Montenegro, Roumelia, Bulgaria, 
Roumania, and Servia proper. The Servian am- 
bition has been to erect from these peoples, in the 
southeast of Europe, a mighty Slavonic Empire 
under the benevolent tutelage and protection of 
Russia. This project was made rather more dif- 
ficult of realization by the transfer of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina from the cruel, but uncertain grasp 
of Turkey to the firmer clutch of the Austro- 
Hungarian Empire, with its implacable opposition 
to the construction of another empire which would 
overshadow its northern neighbor in importance 
and power.* 

Austria's opposition to the scheme of a Slav em- 
pire was expressed in several ways. Within her own 
dominion she relentlessly pursued the political plot- 
ters working for Austria dismemberment. When 
opportunity seemed present she acquired absolute 
sovereignty over additional territory to her south 
and by the well known methods of diplomacy 
sought to keep the petty Balkan States divided 

i^J* See note p. 128. 



22 Causes and Consequences 

and one or more of them in friendly relationship 
with herself. It is apparent that Turkey was in 
this behalf an important ally of Austria, and this 
will account for the extraordinary interest in the 
material welfare of old Turkey shown by Ger- 
many, who very recently, has openly declared 
that the Teutonic civilization of Western Europe 
is menaced by the growing strength, resulting from 
the organization and extraneous alliances of the 
Slavonic peoples. 

The term "Slav" etymologically means a mem- 
ber of an ethnological division. In its popular use 
it means an adherent of the Greek or "orthodox" 
Church. 

The "Manchester Guardian" (Eng.), in a recent 
issue says: "Russia is very often called 'the pro- 
tector of the Slavs,' but the phrase is one of those 
which people go on repeating without considering 
whether it is right or wrong. Russia may justly be 
called the protector of the orthodox, but to give 
her the title of protector of the Slavs is only partly 
true. The Poles are Slavs, and they exceed in 
number the entire population of the Balkan 
peninsula, yet Russia has consistently oppressed 
them. The Bohemians are also Slavs, and although 
a few Russian nationalists have tried to curry 
favor with them, there is not the slightest chance 
of Russia risking the life of a single soldier to save 



of the War of 1914 23 

them, should Austria again treat them harshly or 
unjustly. The bond between Russia and Servia is 
religious rather than racial. For Catholic or Pro- 
testant Slavs Russia cares nothing. 

" 'One rarely hears a Russian speak well of the 
Poles,' writes a correspondent, 'but they are often 
enthusiastic when they talk of Servians and Bul- 
garians.' 'In Belgrade and Sofia I went into the 
churches, and the effect upon me was overwhelm- 
ing,' said a Russian publicist, 'the services were 
just like those at home, and as I looked at the 
people around me, I felt more than I had ever 
done before that they were truly my brothers.' 
In the churches of Warsaw or Prague the good 
man would doubtless have felt that Poles or Bo- 
hemians were even more distant cousins than he 
had been led to think. The influence of religion 
in international politics is far stronger than is 
generally believed." 

No doubt, the writer referred to rigid, formal 
and non-ethical religions, of which the Greek 
Church is an extreme type. Teaching that all be- 
yond its pale are anathema, that church strength- 
ens the bond of affection between its communi- 
cants by the simple process of narrowing and thus 
intensifying it. How strong this tie is may hardly 
be realized by one who has been taught the broader 
humanity which naturally develops through an 



24 Causes and Consequences 

emancipation from rigid formalism in worship. 
The tie of brotherhood between adherents of the 
Greek Church is intensely strong because intensely 
narrow and concentrated. It has not been weak- 
ened by diffusion. 

For many years, this struggle between Teuton 
and Slav has persisted. It has been marked by 
plot and counterplot; by assassination (the Serb's 
natural weapon), and by irritating but not always, 
effectual reprisals by Austria. 

In 1908, the time seemed opportune for Austria 
to strike another blow to the Pan-Slav project. 
In flagrant disregard of her treaty obligations, she 
proclaimed her absolute sovereignty over Bosnia 
and Herzegovina. During the month of October 
of that year Europe hung upon the brink of war. 
A wail of sorrow and a cry for help went up from 
the Balkans. England officially characterized 
Austria's action as an outrage upon the law of 
nations, and the peace of the world. Montenegro 
issued a proclamation of national sorrow. But 
Austria had counted upon two factors working for 
the toleration of her action, and she created a 
third. Turkey was in the throes of revolution and 
Russia was prostrate after her war with Japan. 
Austria incited Prince Ferdinand to disregard the 
treaty by which Bulgaria had been created a 
state, and to proclaim himself "czar," free and 



of the War of 1914 



25 




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26 Causes and Consequences 

independent of Turkey. '"% His new status was in- 
stantly recognized by Austria and at this price 
unanimity of action by the Balkan States was 
avoided. While the windows of the Austrian em- 
bassy were being broken in Belgrade by an angry 
Servian mob clamoring for war, Ferdinand, the 
new ' 'Emperor" in Sofia was arranging for a fra- 
ternal visit to Franz Josef in Vienna. At the last 
moment Servia gave way, so the "coup" by which 
Austria made her seven million Servian subjects 
into nine million, was successful. 

The imminent danger of an Austro- Servian out- 
break kept the world on tenterhooks of suspense 
throughout the long and dangerous period of the 
first Balkan war. Austria, which had reckoned on 
Turkey's victory over the Balkan League, wit- 
nessed without intervening, the occupation, by 
Servian troops, of the Sandjak of Novi Bazar, a 
strip of land ninety miles long by forty miles wide, 
lying between Servia and Montenegro, and linking 
Turkey to Bosnia. The Sandjak had been evacu- 
ated by Austria on the annexation of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina in 1908. It was not until Servia 
began agitating for a port on the Adriatic that 
Austria-Hungary put her foot down, and her 
resolve to keep the Servians from the sea-coast 
brought about the creation of an independent 
Albania. 



of the War of 1914 



27 





28 Causes and Consequences 

The violent incorporation of an additional hos- 
tile element within the Austrian Empire had not 
made for the security and peace of that State. 
More active than ever became those agitators 
who preached and worked for a great union of 
"orthodox" Slav people. The persistence and the 
importance of this agitation were more than 
realized by Germany. It became an obsession 
to her and the teutonic state, wholly missing the 
religious element in the ' 'pan-Slav" movement, 
firmly believed that it had for its ultimate purpose 
the subjugation of the alien peoples of Europe, 
whereas in truth and in fact, separation, political 
and social, was the mainspring of the pact bind- 
ing the Balkan States together and which had 
the warm approval of Russia.* 

Up to the present this projected union of states 
has been known as "Greater Servia." If it ever 
materializes it will be composed of three elements, 
Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes — distinguishable from 
each other only by dialects and customs. 

This proposed Slav nation will number 
12,365,000, exclusive of possible accessions from 
Russia, Poland and Germany. In Southern Ger- 
many there are half a million Serbs! 

Servia found herself with immensely increased 
territory and immensely increased prestige as the 

* See note p. 128. 



of the War of 1914 29 

outcome of the two Balkan wars. But the knowl- 
edge that these results had been achieved in spite 
of Austria only increased the bitterness of feeling 
between the two countries. 

At last, the Slav conspirators dealt a blow to the 
succession of the House of Hapsburg. In a par- 
ticularly brutal and characteristically Servian 
fashion, the Archduke Ferdinand, heir presump- 
tive to the Austrian throne, and his wife (remem- 
ber Alexander and Draga) , were brutally murdered 
on the 5th day of July, 1914. It is accepted gen- 
erally that the crime was Servian in origin, and 
was a part of a plot to establish a "Greater Servia" 
through the partial dismemberment of Austria. 

Into a dangerous mass of animosity accumulated 
on either side of the Danube, the assassination of 
the Archduke Francis Ferdinand fell like a flaming 
torch. It obviously decided Austria-Hungary to 
clear up finally the perpetual menace of this 
small but expanding Slav State growing up at 
her very gates. 



30 Causes and Consequences 



CHAPTER III 
GREAT POWERS ARE INVOLVED 

The heir to the Austrian throne and his wife 
were mudered at Sarajevo, capital of the Austrian 
province of Bosnia, by a Servian sympathizer. 
The Austrian Government declares that the mur- 
der was the result of a plot hatched in Belgrade, 
the Servian capital. 

Austria demanded that Servia should put an end 
to " Greater Servia" plots and punish Servian 
accomplices of the Sarajevo assassination named 
by Austria, these and other measures to be super- 
vised by Austria, and a reply to be made by 6 p. m. 
on Saturday. 

Servia replied a few minutes before 6 p. m. on 
Saturday. She accepted all the Austrian demands 
save one, that Austrian representatives should take 
part in an investigation in Servia of the origin of 
the Sarajevo plot. Servia asked for further in- 
formation on this point. Nevertheless, Austria 
considered that the reply was unsatisfactory and 
declared war. 

The following diary shows the march of events: 

Friday, July 24. Austrian note presented to 
Servia. 

Saturday, July 25. Servian reply received and 



of the War of 1914 31 

deemed unsatisfactory. Austrian Minister leaves 
Belgrade. King Peter of Servia and his Govern- 
ment leave Belgrade for Kragujeracs. Servia be- 
gins mobilizing. Partial mobilization in Austria. 
"War fever" demonstrations in Berlin. 

Monday, July 27. Servian troops reported to 
have fired on Austrians. Kaiser returns to Pots- 
dam from Norway. Montenegro mobilizes in 
support of Servia. Money crisis in Berlin. Sir E. 
Grey suggests conference of Ambassadors. 

Tuesday, July 28. Austria declares war on 
Servia. Servian shipping on the Danube seized. 
Sir E. Grey's peace plan superseded by l 'conver- 
sations" between Austria and Russia at St. Peters- 
burg. Increased run on German banks. Military 
preparations in France. War demonstrations in 
Berlin. 

Wednesday, July 29. All Europe arming. Bridge 
over the Danube between Semlin and Belgrade 
blown up by Servians. Belgrade shelled by Aus- 
trians. Russia mobilizing 1,200,000 on the Aus- 
trian frontier. French President arrives in Paris 
from Scandinavia. The Kaiser holds an all-night 
war conference. Austrian Emperor issues manifesto 
to his people in which he denounces Servia's 
"flame of hatred for myself and my House." 
London Stock Exchange crisis. Continental 
Bourses closed. Mr. Asquith describes the situa- 
tion as one of "extreme gravity." 



32 Causes and Consequences 

Thursday, July 30. Germany demands unquali- 
fied explanation of Russia's menacing mobiliza- 
tion on the German and Austrian frontiers. 
Engagements between Servians and Austrians 
on the frontier. Reported Austrian defeat at Foca. 

Russia was not in a position to face the menace 
of a European war in 1908 when Austria last 
imposed her will on Servia. But 1914 finds a 
stronger and a richer Russia, a Russia whose 
position in the Balkans has been immensely 
strengthened by the increased military efficiency 
of Servia and Rumania. Should Russia regard the 
challenge of the Austrian note as directed against 
herself and meet ultimatum with ultimatum, Ger- 
many must by the terms of the Triple Alliance 
step in, while France ranges herself by the side of 
Russia. The appalling conflagrations which would 
then inevitably result could not leave Great 
Britain indifferent. 

August 1. Germany declared war upon Russia. 

August 3. Germany declared war against France 
and invaded Belgium in contro vent ion of the 
neutrality treaty. 

August 4. Great Britain declared war upon 
Germany. 

August 23. Japan declared war upon Germany. 

August 27. Austria severed diplomatic relations 
with Japan. 

September 19. Italy mobilized her army. 



of the War of 1914 33 



CHAPTER IV 
ENGLAND'S INTERVENTION 

Theoretically, war between France and Ger- 
many without British intervention was possible. 
Such a war would, however, have been fruitless 
for Germany as it would have offered no possi- 
bilities for the extension of the German littoral 
upon the North Sea. To attain this object it was 
also necessary to provoke Belgium into war. This 
was done by violating the treaty of 1839 in which 
Germany had solemnly guaranteed the inviolate- 
ness of Belgian territory. 

[In addition to the guarantees against the in- 
vasion of Belgium contained in the treaty of 
1839, that country thought herself further safe- 
guarded by the agreement entered into by the 
same governments in 1870, by the terms of 
which Great Britain, France and Germany sev- 
erally bound themselves to actively co-operate 
with Belgium in the event of a violation of Bel- 
gium neutrality by any one or two of the other 
three countries last named.] 

Just as this stage negotiations between Germany 
and Britain were rapidly drawing to a close. 
They are summarized in the statement made by 
Sir Edward Grey (Foreign Secretary) , in the Brit- 



34 Causes and Consequences 

ish House of Commons on the 27th of July: 
"Last Friday morning I received from the Austro- 
Hungarian Ambassador the text of the communi- 
cation made by the Austro -Hungarian Govern- 
ment to the Powers, which has appeared in the 
Press, and which included textually the demand 
made by the Austro-Hungarian Government upon 
Servia. 

"In the afternoon I saw other Ambassadors and 
expressed the view that as long as the dispute was 
one between Austro-Hungary and Servia alone I 
felt that we had no title to interfere, but that if 
the relations between Austria-Hungary and Russia 
became threatening the question would then be 
one of the peace of Europe — a matter that con- 
cerned us all. 

"I did not then know what view the Russian 
Government had taken of the situation, and with- 
out knowing how things were likely to develop I 
could not make any immediate proposition; but 
I said that, if relations between Austria-Hungary 
and Russia did become threatening, the only 
chance of peace appeared to me to be that the 
four Powers — Germany, France, Italy and Great 
Britain — who were not directly interested in the 
Servian question should work together both in 
St. Petersburg and in Vienna simultaneously to 
get both Austro-Hungary and Russia to arrange 
a settlement. 



of the War of 1914 35 

' 'After I had heard that Austria-Hungary had 
broken off diplomatic relations with Servia, I 
made by telegraph yesterday afternoon the fol- 
lowing proposal as a practical method of applying 
the views that I had already expressed. 

"I instructed his Majesty's Ambassadors in 
Paris, Berlin and Rome to ask the Governments 
to which they were accredited whether they would 
be willing to arrange that the French, German and 
Italian ambassadors in London should meet me in 
a conference to be held in London immediately 
to endeavor to find a means of arranging the pres- 
ent difficulties. 

"At the same time, I instructed his Majesty's 
ambassadors to ask those Governments to auth- 
orize their representatives in Vienna, St. Peters- 
burg, and Belgrade to inform the Governments 
there of the proposed conference and to ask them 
to suspend active military operations pending the 
result of the conference. 

"It must be obvious to any person who reflects 
upon the situation that the moment the dispute 
ceases to be one between Austria-Hungary and 
Servia and becomes one in which another Great 
Power (Germany) is involved it can but end in 
the greatest catastrophe that has ever befallen 
the Continent of Europe at one blow; no one can 
say what would be the limit of the issues that 



36 Causes and Consequences 

might be raised by such a conflict; the conse- 
quences of it, direct and indirect, would be in- 
calculable." 

Three days later Sir Edward supplemented the 
foregoing by saying: "I regret I can not say the 
situation is less grave than it was yesterday. The 
outstanding facts are much the same. Austria 
has begun war against Servia. Russia has ordered 
a partial mobilization, which has hitherto not 
led to any corresponding steps by any other 
Power, as far as our information goes. 

"We continue to pursue one great object, the 
preservation of European peace, and for this 
purpose we are keeping in close touch with the 
other Powers. In thus keeping in touch we have, 
I am glad to say, had no difficulty so far, though 
it has not been possible for the Powers to join in 
diplomatic action as I proposed on Monday." 

Telegraphing on July 27 to Sir Edward Grey, 
the British ambassador says: 

"I have had conversations with all my col- 
leagues representing the Great Powers. The im- 
pression left on my mind is that the Austro- 
Hungarian note was so drawn up as to make war 
inevitable; that the Austro-Hungarian Govern- 
ment are fully resolved to have war with Servia; 
that they consider their position as a Great 
Power at stake; and that until punishment has 



of the War of 1914 37 

been administered to Servia it is unlikely that 
they will listen to proposals of mediation." 

In a despatch of July 27 the British ambassador 
in Berlin says: 

"In the course of a short conversation the 
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs said * * * 
that if Russia only mobilized in the south Germany 
would not mobilize, but if she mobilized in the 
north Germany would have to do so too." 

Sir Edward Grey telegraphed to the British 
ambassador in Vienna, July 27: 

"I said (to the Austrian ambassador in London) 
that it seemed to me as if the Austrian Govern- 
ment believed that, even after the Servian reply 
(to the Austrian note), they could make war on 
Servia anyhow without bringing Russia into the 
dispute. If they could make war on Servia and 
at the same time satisfy Russia well and good; 
but if not the consequences would be incalculable 
* * * Already the effect on Europe was one of 
anxiety. I pointed out that our fleet was to have 
dispersed today, but we had felt unable to let it 
disperse. We should not think of calling up the 
Reserves at this moment, but there was no menace 
in what we had done about the fleet * . * * It 
seemed to me that the Servian reply already 
involved the greatest humiliation to Servia that 
I had ever seen a country undergo." 



38 Causes and Consequences 

On July 28, according to a despatch from Sir 
William, Goschen, the German Imperial Chan- 
cellor, told him that "a war between the Great 
Powers must be avoided." 

Two days later (July 29) the British ambassador 
to Germany (Goschen) telegraphed to the Brit- 
ish Foreign Minister: 

"I found the Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Herr 
von Jagow) very depressed today * * * He 
was much troubled by reports of mobilization in 
Russia and of certain military measures, which 
he did not specify, in France. He subsequently 
spoke of these measures to my French colleague, 
who informed him that French Government had 
done nothing more than German Government 
had done — namely, recalled officers on leave. His 
Excellency denied German Government had done 
this, but as a matter of fact, it is true." 

The same day the British ambassador to Rome 
sent the following despatch home: 

"The German Government are being informed 
that the Italian Government would not be par- 
doned by public opinion here unless they had 
taken every possible step so as to avoid war. He 
(the Foreign Minister) is urging that the German 
Government must lend their co-operation in this. 
I added that there seemed to be a difficulty in 
making Germany believe that Russia was in 
earnest." 



of the War of 1914 39 

In a despatch to the British ambassador in 
Paris on July 29, Sir Edward Grey says that he 
told M. Cambon (French ambassador in London) 
that even if the Austrian-Servian conflict became 
a question between Austria and Russia, England 
would not feel called upon to take a hand. If 
Germany and France became involved "we had 
not made up our minds what we should do. It 
was a case that we should have to consider." 

After these despatches had been received, Sir 
Edward Grey sent the following message to 
Goschen : 

"After speaking to the German ambassador 
this afternoon about the European situation, I 
said that I wished to say to him in a quite private 
and friendly way, something that was on my mind. 
The situation was very grave. While it was re- 
stricted to the issues at present actually involved 
we had no thought of interfering in it. But if 
Germany became involved in it, and then France, 
the issue might be so great that it would involve 
all European interests; and I did not wish him to 
be misled by the friendly tone of our conversa- 
tion — which I hoped would continue — into thinking 
that we should stand aside. 

"He said that he quite understood this, but he 
asked whether I meant that we should, under 
certain circumstances, intervene. 



40 Causes and Consequences 

"I replied that I did not wish to say that, or to 
use anything that was like a threat or an attempt 
to apply pressure by saying that, if things became 
worse, we should intervene. There would be no 
question of our intervening if Germany was not 
involved, or even if France was not involved. But 
we knew very well that if the issue did become such 
that we thought British interests required us to 
intervene, we must intervene at once, and the 
decision would have to be very rapid, just as the 
decisions of other Powers had to be. If we failed 
in our efforts to keep the peace, and if the issue 
spread so that it involved practically every Eu- 
ropean interest, I did not wish to be open to any 
reproach from him that the friendly tone of all 
our conversations had misled him or his Govern- 
ment into supposing that we should not take ac- 
tion * * * The German ambassador took no 
exception to what I had said; indeed he told me 
that it accorded with what he had already given in 
Berlin as his view of the situation." 

Germany then made the proposal to England, 
characterized by Mr. Asquith as being an infa- 
mous attempt to purchase Britain's betrayal of the 
treaty obligations. The proposal is embodied in 
the following despatch from Goschen to Grey: 

"I was asked to call upon the Chancellor to- 
night. His Excellency had just returned from 
Potsdam. 



of the War of 1914 41 

"He said that should Austria be attacked by 
Russia, a European conflagration might, he feared, 
become inevitable, owing to Germany's obliga- 
tions as Austria's ally, in spite of his continued 
efforts to maintain peace. He then proceeded to 
make the following strong bid for British neu- 
trality. He said that it was clear, so far as he was 
able to judge the main principle which governed 
British policy, that Great Britain would never 
stand by and allow France to be crushed in any 
conflict there might be. That, however, was not 
the object at which Germany aimed. Provided, 
that neutrality of Great Britain were certain, 
every assurance would be given to the British 
Government that the Imperial Government aimed 
at no territorial acquisitions at the expense of 
France should they prove victorious in any war 
that might ensue. 

"I questioned his Excellency about the French 
Colonies, and he said that he was unable to give 
a similar undertaking in that respect. As regards 
Holland, however, his Excellency said that, so 
long as Germany's adversaries respected integrity 
and neutrality of the Netherlands Germany was 
ready to give his Majesty's Government an assur- 
ance that she would do likewise. It depended 
upon the action of France what operations Ger- 
many might be forced to enter upon in Belgium, 



42 Causes and Consequences 

but when the war was over, Belgian territory 
would be respected if she had not sided against 
Germany. 

"His Excellency ended by saying that ever 
since he had been Chancellor the object of his 
policy had been, as you were aware, to bring about 
an understanding with England; he trusted that 
these assurances might form the basis of that 
understanding which he so much desired. He had 
in mind a general neutrality agreement between 
England and Germany, though it was of 
course at the present moment too early to discuss 
details, and an assurance of British neutrality in 
the conflict which present crisis might possibly 
produce would enable him to look forward to 
realization of his desire. 

"In reply to his Excellency's inquiry how I 
thought his request would appeal to you, I said 
that I did not think it probable that at this stage 
of events you would care to bind yourself to any 
course of action and that I was of opinion that 
you would desire to retain full liberty. 

"Our conversation upon this subject having 
come to an end, I communicated the contents of 
your telegram of today to his Excellency, who 
expressed his best thanks to you." 

Britain's reply to Germany's offer was as fol- 
lows: 



of the War of 1914 43 

"His Majesty's Government can not for a 
moment entertain the Chancellor's proposal that 
they should bind themselves to neutrality on such 
terms. 

"What he asks us in effect is to engage to stand 
by while French Colonies are taken and France is 
beaten so long as Germany does not take French 
territory as distinct from the colonies. 

"From the material point of view such a pro- 
posal is unacceptable, for France, without further 
territory in Europe being taken from her, could 
be so crushed as to lose her position as a Great 
Power and become subordinate to German policy. 

"Altogether, apart from that, it would be a dis- 
grace for us to make this bargain with Germany 
at the expense of France, a disgrace from which 
the good name of this country would never re- 
cover. 

"The Chancellor also in effect asks us to bar- 
gain away whatever obligation or interest we have 
as regards the neutrality of Belgium. We could 
not entertain that bargain either. 

"Sir Edward Grey declares that the one way 
of maintaining the good relations between Eng- 
land and Germany is that they should continue 
to work together to preserve the peace of Europe. 
The present crisis safely passed, his own endeavour 
will be to promote some arrangement to which 



44 Causes and Consequences 

Germany could be a party, assuring her and her 
allies against any aggressive policy by France. 

"In a despatch to Sir William Goschen, dated 
July 31, Sir Edward Grey suggests that England, 
France, Germany and Italy might offer to Austria 
to undertake to see that she obtained full satis- 
faction of her demands on Servia provided the 
demands did not impair Servian sovereignty and 
the integrity of Servian territory. Sir Edward 
Grey points out that Austria has already agreed 
to respect them, and says that Russia might be 
informed by the four disinterested Powers of their 
offer, all Powers, 'of course,' to suspend further 
military operations or preparations." 

Sir Edward Grey authorizes the ambassador to 
sound the German Foreign Secretary about this 
proposal, and adds: 

"I said to the German ambassador this morn- 
ing that if Germany could get any reasonable 
proposal put forward which made it clear that 
Germany and Austria were striving to preserve 
European peace, and that Russia and France would 
be unreasonable if they rejected it, I would support 
it at St. Petersburg and Paris, and go the length 
of saying that if Russia and France would not 
accept it his Majesty's Government would have 
nothing more to do with the consequence, but, 
otherwise, I told German ambassador that if 



of the War of 1914 45 

France became involved we should be drawn in." 

On the 30th of July, 1914, the British ambassa- 
dor in Vienna telegraphed to Sir Edward Grey: 
"Although I am not able to verify it, I have 
private information that the German ambassador 
knew the text of the Austrian ultimatum to 
Servia before it was despatched and telegraphed 
to the German Emperor. I know from the German 
ambassador himself that he endorses every line 
of it." 

The night of Monday, August 3, found England 
thoroughly awake to the calamitous position in 
which she with the rest of Europe was to be in- 
volved. The situation was made plain by a mas- 
terly address by Sir Edward Grey then delivered 
in the House of Commons. The Foreign Secre- 
tary said: 

■'I want to approach this crisis from the point 
of view of British interest, British honour; free 
from all question as to why peace has not be pre- 
served. We shall publish papers as soon as we 
can with regard to what took place last week 
when we were working for peace, and when these 
papers are published I have no doubt that to 
every human being they will make it clear how 
strenuous and genuine and whole-hearted all our 
efforts for peace were. 

"Well, I come first to the question of our treaty 



46 Causes and Consequences 

obligations. I have assured the House, and the 
Prime Minister has assured the House more than 
once, that if any crisis such as this arose we should 
come before the House of Commons and be able 
to say to the House that it was free to decide what 
the British attitude should be, and that we would 
have no secret engagement which we should spring 
upon the House. 

''Well, now, to make this question of obligation 
clear to the House I must go back first to the 
Moroccan crisis in 1906. That was the time of 
the Algeciras Conference. That was a difficult 
time for the Government, because a general elec- 
tion was in progress. Ministers were scattered 
over the country, and I spent three days a week 
in my constituency and three days in the Foreign 
Office. 

"I was asked the question whether, if that 
crisis developed into a war between France and 
Germany, we would give armed support. I said 
then that I could promise nothing unless I was 
subject to the whole-hearted support of public 
opinion here when the occasion arose. I said that 
in my opinion if war was forced upon France 
upon the question of Morocco — a question which 
had just been the subject of agreement — that if 
out of that agreement war was forced upon 
France at that time in my opinion the public 



of the War of 1914 47 

opinion of the country would rally to the support 
of France. 

But I made no promise. I expressed the opinion 
in the same words to the French and the German 
ambassadors at the time without making any 
promise. That position was accepted by the 
French Government, but they said at the time to 
me and very reasonably, 'If you think it possible 
that public opinion in Great Britain might, when 
a sudden crisis arose, justify you in giving to 
France armed support which you cannot promise 
in advance, unless between military and naval 
experts some conversations had taken place, you 
would not be able to give that support even if 
you wished when the time comes.' 

1 'There was force in the contention and I agreed 
to it and authorized those conversations to take 
place, but on the distinct understanding that 
nothing which passed between the naval and 
military experts of either Government in any 
way restricted our freedom as to whether or not 
we should give that support when the time arrived. 
On that occasion a general election was in progress 
and I had to take the responsibility of what I did 
because the Cabinet could not be summoned. 

"What, then, is our position? We have had for 
many years a long-standing friendship with France. 
I remember well the feeling in this House, I re- 



48 Causes and Conquenceses 

member my own feeling when the late Govern- 
ment made that agreement with France — the 
warm, cordial feeling resulting from the fact that 
these two nations who had had perpetual dif- 
ferences in the past had cleared those differences 
away. How far that friendship entails obligation 
it is for every individual member of this House to 
consider for himself. On this point the House must 
separately and collectively judge for itself. 

"The French nation has a fleet which is now 
in the Mediterranean. The north and west coasts 
of France are absolutely undefended. With the 
French fleet in the Mediterranean the situation is 
very different from what it used to be so far as 
France is concerned. The friendship which had 
grown up between the two countries had given 
them a sense of security that there was nothing 
to be feared from us. 

4 'My own feeling is this: that if a foreign fleet, 
engaged in a war which France had not sought, 
came down the English Channel and bombarded 
and battered the undefended coast of France we 
could not stand by. 

" With this thing going on under our very eyes we 
could not stand by with our arms folded, looking 
on dispassionately, doing nothing. That, I be- 
lieve, is the feeling of the country. But I want 
to look at it from the point of view of British in- 



of the War of 1914 49 

terests, and it is from that point of view that I 
am going to base and justify what I am presently 
going to say to the House. 

"If we are to say nothing at this moment, what 
is France to do, with her fleet in the Mediter- 
ranean, with her northern and western coasts 
absolutely undefended, at the mercy of the German 
fleet coming down the Channel to batter her 
northern coast? We must remember that we are 
faced with a war of life and death. It may be 
that the French fleet will be withdrawn from the 
Mediterranean. We are in the presence of a 
European conflagration. Can anyone set limits 
to the consequences that may arise from it? 

"What would be the position of the Mediter- 
ranean then? A clear trade through that area is 
vital. Nobody can say that within the next few 
weeks there is any particular trade route which 
may not be vital to this country. What would be 
the position if we had to keep a fleet in the Mediter- 
ranean? What risks from the point of view of 
British interests would we not run by maintaining 
our attitude of neutrality? 

"Well, Sir, we feel strongly that France is en- 
titled to know, and know at once what our attitude 
is to be — whether or not in the event of an attack 
upon her unprotected northern and western coasts 
she could depend upon British support. And in 



50 Causes and Consequences 

that emergency and under these compelling cir- 
cumstances yesterday afternoon I gave to the 
French ambassador the following statement: — 

" 'I am authorized to give an assurance that if 
the German fleet comes into the Channel or 
through the North Sea to undertake hostile opera- 
tions against the French coasts or shipping, the 
British fleet will give all the protection in its 
power.' 

"This assurance is, of course, subject to the 
policy of his Majesty's Government receiving the 
support of Parliament, and it must not be taken 
as binding the Government to take any action 
until the contingency takes place. So I state this 
to the House not as a declaration of war on ovlr 
part, not as entailing immediate aggressive action 
on our part, but as binding us to take aggressive 
action should the contingency arise. 

"I understand that the German Government 
would be prepared if we would pledge ourselves to 
neutrality to agree that its fleet would not attack 
the northern coasts of France. I only heard that 
shortly before I came to the House, but it is far 
too narrow an engagement and there is a more 
serious consideration, becoming more serious every 
hour. 

"There is the question of the neutrality of 
Belgium." 



of the War of 1914 51 

Sir E. Grey proceeded to state that the French 
Government were resolved to respect the neutrality 
of Belgium, but that the German Minister for 
Foreign Affairs had informed Sir E. Goschen, the 
British ambassador in Berlin, that he doubted if 
his Government could make any statement upon 
the undesirable effect of disclosing part of their 
plan of campaign. The Belgian Government had 
assured Britain that they would do their utmost 
to maintain their neutrality. He continued: 

''Now there appears the news I have received 
to-day, though I am not sure how far it has 
reached me in an accurate form, the news that an 
ultimatum has been given by Germany to Belgium, 
the object of which was to offer Belgium friendly 
relations with Germany on condition that she 
would facilitate the passage of German troops 
through Belgium. Till one has this news abso- 
lutely definitely, I do not wish to say all that one 
would say otherwise. We were sounded in the 
course of last week as to whether if after a war 
Belgian integrity should be preserved that would 
have contented us. We replied that we could not 
bargain away what obligations we had in regard 
to Belgian neutrality. 

1 'Shortly before I reached the House I was in- 
formed that the following telegram has been 
received from the King of the Belgians by our 



52 Causes and Consequences 

King George: — 'Remembering the numerous proofs 
of your Majesty's friendship and that of your 
predecessor and the friendly attitude of England 
in 1870, and the proof of friendship which she has 
just given us again, I make a supreme appeal for 
the diplomatic intervention of your Majesty's 
Government to safeguard the integrity of Belgium.' 

"But the diplomatic intervention took place 
last week on our part. What can diplomatic 
intervention do now? We have a great and vital 
interest in the independence of Belgium. If 
Belgium is compelled to submit to allow her 
neutrality to be violated the situation is clear. 

"Just opposite to us there would be a common 
interest against the unmeasured aggrandisement 
of another Power. 

"It may be said that we might stand aside, 
husband our strength, and at the end of the war 
intervene with effect to put things right and adjust 
them to our own point of view. If in a crisis like 
this we run away from those obligations of honour 
and interest as regards the Belgian Treaty, I 
doubt whether, whatever material force we might 
have at the end, it would be of very much value in 
face of the respect that we should have lost. I do 
not believe that whether a Great Power stands 
outside this war or not it is going to be in a position 
at the end of the war to exert its material influence. 



of the War of 1914 53 

"For us, with a powerful fleet which we believe 
is able to protect our commerce, to protect our 
shores, to protect our interests if we engaged in 
war, we shall suffer but little more than what we 
shall suffer even if we stand aside. 

1 'Whether we are in it or whether we stand out- 
side, foreign trade is going to stop not because the 
trade routes are closed but because there is no 
trade at the other end. With Continental nations 
engaged in war — all their population, their energies 
and their wealth engaged in a desperate struggle — - 
you cannot carry on such a trade as you would 
carry on in time of peace whether we are parties 
to the war or whether we are not. 

"If we stand aside I don't believe for a moment 
we shall be in a position to use our material forces 
to avoid or undo what has happened in the course 
of the war, to prevent the whole of ' Western 
Europe falling under the domination of a single 
Power, and I am quite sure our moral position will 
be worse. I am not yet sure that we know all the 
facts, but if the facts turn out to be as they have 
reached us up to the preserit time, it is quite clear 
that there is an obligation on this country to do 
its utmost to prevent the consequence to which 
those facts will lead. 

"If we do not take the line I have indicated — 
and we have to consider Belgian treaty rights, the 



54 Causes and Consequences 

possible position in the Mediterranean, and the 
results to ourselves and to France through our 
failure to support her — if we say that these things 
matter nothing I believe that we should sacrifice 
our respect, our name, and our reputation, and 
that we should not escape the most serious eco- 
nomic consequences. 

"But I have perhaps said enough to show that 
we must be prepared. We are prepared for the 
consequences that may arise from the attitude we 
have adopted. We are ready to take our part. 

"If we are forced, and rapidly forced, to take 
our stand upon these issues, then I believe when 
the country realizes what is at stake, what the 
real issues are, the magnitude of the impending 
danger in the west of Europe, then I believe we 
shall be supported throughout not only by the 
House of Commons but by the determination, the 
resolution, the courage, and the endurance of the 
whole country." 

After Sir Edward Grey had concluded his 
speech, the debate was continued as follows: 

Mr. Bonar Law (leader of the Opposition) 
said: "Every one of his Majesty's Dominions 
Beyond the Seas will be behind us with whatever 
action it is necessary to take. And this only will 
I say. The Govermnent already know, but I give 
them now the assurance on behalf of the party of 



of the War of 1914 55 

which I am leader in this House that in whatever 
steps they think it necessary to take for the 
honour and the security of this country they can 
rely upon the unhesitating support of the Opposi- 
tion." 

Mr. John Redmond said: "To-day there are in 
Ireland two large bodies of Volunteers, one of 
which has sprung into existence in the north and 
another in the south. I say to the Government 
that they may to-morrow withdraw every one of 
their troops from Ireland. Ireland will be de- 
fended by her armed sons from foreign invasion, 
and for that purpose the armed Catholics in the 
south will be only too glad to join arms with the 
armed Protestant Ulster men. 

"Is it too much to hope that out of this situation 
a result may spring which will be good, not merely 
for the Empire, but for the future welfare and 
integrity of the Irish nation? While Irishmen are 
in favour of peace and would desire to save the 
democracy of this country from all the horrors of 
war, while we will make any possible sacrifice for 
that purpose, still, we offer this to the Government 
of the day. They may take their troops away, and 
if it is allowed to us in comradeship with our 
brothers in the north, we will ourselves defend the 
coasts of Ireland." 

One discordant note was struck by a repre- 



56 Causes and Consequences 

sentative of the Labor Party in the House. Mr. 
Ramsay MacDonald said he thought the Govern- 
ment was wrong. If Sir Edward Grey said the 
country was in danger the House would vote him 
what money he wanted and even offer themselves. 
He had not persuaded them the country was in 
danger. 

England made one last effort to preserve peace, 
with honor. In accordance with instructions of 
August 4, from Sir Edward Grey, secretary of 
State for Foreign Affairs, the Ambassador called 
on the German Secretary of State, Gottlieb von 
Jagow. He inquired whether Germany would re- 
frain from violating Belgian neutrality. 

"Herr von Jagow," the report continues, "at 
once replied that he was sorry to say his answer 
must be 'No,' as in consequence of the German 
troops having crossed the frontier that morning, 
Belgian neutrality already had been violated." 

"Herr von Jagow again went into reasons why 
the Imperial Government had been obliged to 
take this step — namely, that they had to advance 
into France by the quickest and easiest way, so 
as to be able to get well ahead with their opera- 
tions, and endeavor to strike some decisive blow 
as early as possible. 

"It was a matter of life or death for them, as, 
if they had gone by the more southern route they 



of the War #/ 1914 57 

could not have hoped, in view of the paucity of 
roads and the strength of the fortresses, to have 
got through without formidable opposition, en- 
tailing great loss of time. 

"This loss of time would mean time gained by 
the Russians for the bringing up of their troops 
to the German frontier. Rapidity of action was 
the great German asset, while that of Russia was 
the inexhaustiable supply of troops. 

"I pointed out to Herr von Jagow that this fait 
accompli of the violation of the Belgian frontier 
rendered, as he would readily understand, the 
situation exceedingly grave, and I asked him 
whether there was still not time to draw back and 
avoid possible consequences which both he and I 
would deplore. He replied that for reasons he had 
given me it was now impossible for him to draw 
back. 

"The British ambassador went to the German 
foreign office again the same afternoon and in- 
formed the Secretary of State that unless the 
Imperial Government could give assurances by 
12 o'clock that night they would proceed no 
further with the violation of the Belgian frontier 
and stop their advance, he had been instructed 
to demand his passports and to inform the Im- 
perial Government that his Majesty's Govern- 
ment would have to take all steps in its power to 



58 Causes and Consequences 

uphold neutral Belgium and the observance of the 
treaty to which Germany was as much a party as 
Great Britain. 

"Herr von Jagow," says the report, ' 'replied 
that to his great regret he could give no other 
answer than that which he had given to me earlier 
in the day, namely, that the safety of the Empire 
rendered it absolutely necessary that the Imperial 
troops should advance through Belgium. 

"I gave his Excellency a written summary of 
your telegram, and, pointing out that you had 
mentioned 12 o'clock as the time when his Maj- 
esty's Government would expect an answer, 
asked him whether, in view of the terrible conse- 
quences which would necessarily ensue, it was not 
possible, even at the last moment, that their 
answer should be reconsidered. He replied that 
if the time given was 24 hours or more, his answer 
must be the same. 

"I said that in that case I should have to de- 
mand my passports. 

"The interview took place about 7 o'clock. In 
a short conversation which ensued Herr von Jagow 
expressed his poignant regret at the crumbling of 
his entire policy and that of the Imperial Chan- 
cellor, which had been to make friends with Great 
Britain and then, through Great Britain, to get 
closer to France. 



of the War of 1914 59 

"I said that this sudden end to my work in 
Berlin was to me also a matter of deep regret and 
disappointment, but that he must understand 
that under the circumstances and in view of our 
engagements his Majesty's Government could 
not have acted otherwise than it had done." 

The ambassador then went to see the Imperial 
Chancellor, Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg, and he 
found him very excited. 

"The chancellor," says the report, "began a 
harangue, which lasted about twenty minutes. 
He said the step taken by Great Britain was ter- 
rible to a degree. Just for a word 'neutrality' — a 
word which in wartime had been so often disre- 
garded — just for a scrap of paper, Great Britain 
was going to make war on a kindred nation, who 
desired nothing better than to be friends with her. 

"All his efforts in that direction had been ren- 
dered useless by this last terrible step, and the 
policy to which, as I know, he had devoted him- 
self since his accession to office, was tumbled 
down like a house of cards. 

"What he had done was unthinkable. It was like 
striking a man from behind while he was fighting 
for his life against two assailants. He held Great 
Britain responsible for all the terrible events that 
might happen. 

"I protested strongly against this statement, 



60 Causes and Consequences 

and said that in the same way as he and Herr von 
Jagow wished me to understand that for strategical 
reasons it was a matter of life or death to Germany 
to advance through Belgium and violate the 
latter's neutrality, so I would wish him to under- 
stand that it was, so to speak, a matter of life or 
death for the honor of Great Britain that she 
should keep her solemn engagement to do her 
utmost to defend Belgium's neutrality if attacked. 
A solemn compact simply had to be kept, or what 
confidence could any one have in engagements 
given by Great Britain in the future? 

"The chancellor said: 'But at what price will 
that compact have been kept? Has the British 
Government thought of that?' 

"I hinted to his Excellency as plainly as I could 
that fear of consequences could hardly be regarded 
as an excuse for breaking a solemn engagement. 
But his Excellency was so excited, so evidently 
overcome by the news of our action, so little dis- 
posed to hear reason, that I refrained from adding 
fuel to the flame by further argument. 

"As I was leaving, he said that the blow of 
Great Britain joining Germany's enemies was all 
the greater because almost up to the last moment 
he and his Government had been working with 
us and supporting our efforts to maintain peace 
between Austria and Russia. 



of the War of 1914 61 

"I said that this was part of the tragedy which 
saw two nations fall apart just at the moment 
when the relations between them were more 
friendly and cordial than they had been for years. 
Unfortunately, notwithstanding our efforts to 
maintain peace between Austria and Russia, war 
had spread and brought us face to face with a 
situation which entailed our separation from our 
late fellow workers. He would readily under- 
stand that no one regretted this more than I." 

The British ambassador declares he handed a 
telegraphic report of the conversation to the 
telegraph office in Berlin for transmission, but that 
it never reached the British Foreign Office. 

That evening Herr Zimmerman, under Secre- 
tary of State, called on Sir William Goschen and 
asked whether the call for his passports was equiv- 
alent to a declaration of war. The ambassador 
replied that there had been cases where diplomatic 
relations had been broken off in which war had 
not ensued, but his instructions showed that if a 
reply was not received by 12 o'clock, Great 
Britain would take such steps as her engagements 
required. 

Herr Zimmerman said that it was in fact a 
declaration of war, as Germany could not give the 
assurances required. Soon afterward a fly sheet 
was issued by the Berliner Tageblatt stating that 



62 Causes and Consequences 

Great Britain had declared war against Ger- 
many. 

1 'Immediately," says the report, "an exceed- 
ingly excited and unruly mob assembled before 
the embassy, and the police were overpowered. 
We took no notice of this until the crash of glass 
and the landing of cobblestones in the drawing 
room, where we were all sitting, warned us that 
the situation was getting unpleasant." 

The ambassador telephoned to the foreign office 
and police were sent and cleared the street. No 
more direct unpleasantness occurred. Herr von 
Jagow called and expressed his regrets. He said 
the behavior of his countrymen made him feel 
more ashamed than he could say. He had decided 
that the news of the declaration of war should not 
be published until the following morning, and for 
that reason had only sent a small force of police 
to protect the embassy. 

The next day the Emperor sent an aid with a 
message, in which the Emperor expressed regret 
for the occurrences, and also requested the am- 
bassador to tell the King of England that he 
would at once divest himself of his British 
titles. 

With respect to this message, the ambassador 
says: "The message lost none of its acerbity by 
the manner of its delivery." 



of the War of 1914 63 

On July 31, 1914, France gave Belgium a formal 
assurance that "no incursion of French troops 
will take place in Belgium." This assurance 
was at once communicated by Belgium to Germany 
with the following pledge from Belgium: "If 
contrary to our expectations the country's neu- 
trality should be violated by France * * * 
Belgium and her army would oppose a most 
vigorous resistance to the invaders." 

In 1911, Von Bethman Hollwegg had assured 
Belgium that in the event of a Franco-German 
war her neutrality would be sacred. This assur- 
ance was repeated by Von Jagow in 1913 and 
reaffirmed forty-eight hours before Germany de- 
livered the ultimatum to Belgium which pre- 
cipitated the war with England, and stripped 
Germany of every vestige of national honor.* 

* Vide Belgian "Gray Book," published October 5, 1914.. 



64 Causes and Consequences 



CHAPTER V 
AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM 

Germany's view as to the responsibility for the 
war, apart from the Austria-Servia incident, is 
embodied in a telegram sent by the instructions 
of King George to his cousin, the Czar of Russia. 
The telegram follows: 

"Sir Edward Grey to Sir G. Buchanan, St. Peters- 
burg, 

Foreign Office, 

August 1, 1914, 3:30 a. m. 
"You should at once apply for an audience with 
his Majesty the Emperor, and convey to him the 
following personal message from the King: 

" 'My Government has received the following 
statement from the German Government: 

11 'On July 29 the Russian Emperor requested 
the German Emperor by telegraph to mediate 
between Russia and Austria. The Emperor im- 
mediately declared his readiness to do so. He 
informed the Russian Emperor of this by tele- 
graph, and took the required action at Vienna. 
Without waiting for the result of this action Russia 
mobilized against Austria. By telegraph the Ger- 
man Emperor pointed out to the Russian Em- 
peror that hereby his attempt at mediation would 



of the War of 1914 65 

be rendered illusory. The Emperor further asked 
the Russian Emperor to suspend the military 
operations against Austria. This, however, did 
not happen. 

" 'In spite of this the German Government 
continued its mediation in Vienna. In this matter 
the German Government have gone to the fur- 
therest limit of what can be suggested to a Sover- 
eign State which is the ally of Germany. The pro- 
posals made by the German Government in Vienna 
were conceived entirely on the lines suggested by 
Great Britain, and the German Government rec- 
ommended them in Vienna for their serious con- 
sideration. They were taken into consideration 
in Vienna this morning. During the deliberations 
of the (Austrian) Cabinet, and before they were 
concluded, the German ambassador in St. Peters- 
burg reported the mobilization of the entire Rus- 
sian army and fleet. 

" 'Owing to this action on the part of Russia 
the Austrian answer to the German proposals for 
mediation, which were still under consideration, 
was not given. This action on thepart of Russia 
is also directed against Germany, that is to say, 
the Power whose mediation had been invoked by 
the Russian Emperor. We were bound to reply 
with serious count ermeasures to this action, which 
we were obliged to consider as hostile, unless we 



66 Causes and Consequences 

were prepared to endanger the safety of our 
country. We are unable to remain inactive in 
face of the Russian mobilization on our frontier. 
We have therefore informed Russia that unless she 
were prepared to suspend within twelve hours the 
warlike measures against Germany and Austria 
we should be obliged to mobilize, and this would 
mean war. We have asked France if she would 
remain neutral during a German-Russian war.' 

This ends the German statement and King 
George concludes: 

"I can not help thinking that some misunder- 
standing has produced this deadlock. I am most 
anxious not to miss any possibility of avoiding the 
terrible calamity which at present threatens the 
whole world. I therefore make a personal appeal 
to you to remove the misapprehension which I 
feel must have occurred and to leave still open 
grounds for negotiation and possible peace. 

"If you think I can in any way contribute to that 
all-important purpose, I will do everything in 
my power to assist in reopening the interrupted 
conversations between the Powers concerned. I 
feel confident that you are as anxious as I am that 
all that is possible should be done to secure the 
peace of the world/' 

Reply of the Emperor of Russia to King George : 

"I would gladly have accepted your proposals 



of the War of 1914 67 

had not German ambassador this afternoon pre- 
sented a note to my Government declaring war. 
Ever since presentation of the ultimatum at Bel- 
grade, Russia has devoted all her efforts to finding 
some pacific solution of the question raised by 
Austria's action. Object of that action was to 
crush Servia and make her a vassal of Austria. 
Effect of this would have been to upset balance of 
power in Balkans, which is of such vital interest 
to my Empire. 

"Every proposal, including that of your Govern- 
ment, was rejected by Germany and Austria, and 
it was only when favorable moment for bringing 
pressure to bear on Austria had passed that Ger- 
many showed any disposition to mediate. Even 
then she did not put forward any precise pro- 
posal. Austria's declaration of war on Servia 
forced me to order a partial mobilization, though, 
in view of threatening situation, my military ad- 
visers strongly advised a general mobilization 
owing to quickness with which Germany can 
mobilize in comparison with Russia. 

"I was eventually compelled to take this course 
in consequence of complete Austrian mobiliza- 
tion, of the bombardment of Belgrade, of con- 
centration of Austrian troops in Galicia, and of 
secret military preparations being made in Ger- 
many. That I was justified in doing so is proved 



68 Causes and Consequences 

by Germany's sudden declaration of war, which 
was quite unexpected by me, as I had given most 
categorical assurance to the Emperor William that 
my troops would not move so long as mediation 
negotiations continued. 

"In this solemn hour I wish to assure you once 
more that I have done all in my power to avert 
war. Now that it has been forced on me, I trust 
your country will not fail to support France and 
Russia. God bless and protect you." 

Upon the day England declared war the German 
Chancellor (Bethmann Hollweg) in a speech to 
the Reichstag said: 

11 Gentlemen, we are now in a state of necessity, 
and necessity knows no law! Our troops have 
occupied Luxemburg, and perhaps (as a matter of 
fact the speaker knew that Belgium had been 
invaded that morning) are already on Belgian 
soil. Gentlemen, that is contrary to the dictates 
of international law. It is true that the French 
Government has declared at Brussels that France 
is willing to respect the neutrality of Belgium as 
long as her opponent respects it. We knew, how- 
ever, that France stood ready for the invasion. 
France could wait, but we could not wait. A French 
movement upon our flank upon the lower Rhine 
might have been disastrous. So we were compelled 
to override the just protest of the Luxemburg 



of the War of 1914 69 

and Belgian Governments. The wrong — I speak 
openly — that we are committing we will endeavor 
to make good as soon as our military goal has been 
reached. Anybody who is threatened, as we are 
threatened, and is fighting for his highest posses- 
sions can have only one thought — how he is to 
hack his way through (wie er sich durchhaut)!" 

In view of Germany's demand for the payment 
of a large sum of money from Brussels as "indem- 
nity," because she objected to Germany's disre- 
gard of her justifiable protest, it is rather dif- 
ficult to know just what value one should attach 
to the words "to make good." 

The German Chancellor is mistaken. Every 
necessity is bound and often created by law. If 
there were no necessities, there would be little 
need for law. France and England were parties 
to the treaty guaranteeing Belgian neutrality, 
which Germany has now* violated. Upon the day 
of Sedan, Napoleon Third and the French nation 
were in an hour of dire necessity; the calamitous 
surrender could have been averted by a temporary 
penetration into Belgium of but a few miles, but 
Napoleon considered the honor of his nation para- 
mount to any military exigency, and refused to 
save his dynasty and army by the sacrifice of 
national obligations, t 

* See appendix, f For Austria's side of the controversy see note p. 128. 



70 Causes and Consequences 



CHAPTER VI 
THE DECLARATION OF WAR 

On Tuesday, the 4th of August, Great Britain 
declared war upon Germany. The reasons for 
which this momentous step was taken are em- 
bodied in a speech delivered in the House of Com- 
mons two days later by Mr. Asquith, the Prime 
Minister, and, at that moment, the Secretary of 
War. 

Mr. Asquith said: "In asking the House to agree 
to the resolution to vote £100,000,000 I do not 
propose, because I do not think it is necessary, to 
traverse the ground again which was covered by 
Sir Edward Grey two or three nights ago." 

Mr. Asquith then read extracts from the diplo- 
matic correspondence published on Thursday, be- 
ginning with the communication made by the 
German Chancellor to Sir Edward Goschen on 
July 29 which contained, the Prime Minister said, 
"the terms on which it was sought to buy our 
neutrality — a promise to leave France intact if 
beaten. 

"Sir Edward Goschen," continued Mr. Asquith, 
"proceeded to put a very pertinent question to the 
German Chancellor: 'I questioned his Excellency 
about the French Colonies?' What are the French 



of the War of 1914 71 

Colonies ? They mean every part of the dominions 
and possessions of France outside the geographical 
area of Europe. The Chancellor said he was not 
able to give such an undertaking with regard to 
those colonies as he was prepared to give in regard 
to French territory. 

"Let me come to what in this matter in my 
opinion is the crucial and governing consideration, 
namely, the position of the small states. As re- 
gards Holland, his Excellency said so long as 
Germany's adversaries respected the integrity and 
neutrality of the Netherlands, Germany was 
ready to give his Majesty's Government an assur- 
ance that she would do likewise. 

"Then I come to Belgium. It depended upon the 
action of France what operations Germany would 
be forced to enter upon in Belgium, but when the 
war was over Belgium's integrity would be re- 
spected if she had not sided against Germany. 
Let the House observe the distinction between the 
two cases. An assurance is given as regards the 
independence and neutrality of Holland, but as 
regards Belgium there is no mention of neutrality 
at all, but an assurance that when the war is over 
her integrity will be respected if she had not sided 
against Germany. 

"What does this all amount to? I ask the House 
not with the object of inflaming passions, not with 



72 Causes and Consequences 

the object of exciting feeling against Germany, 
but simply to make clear the position of the Brit- 
ish Government. What did the proposal amount 
to? In the first place, it meant that behind the 
back of France, who was not to be made a party 
to these communications at all, we should have 
given, if we had assented to these proposals, a 
free license to Germany to annex in the event of 
a successful war the whole of the extra-European 
dominions in the possession of France. 

"What did it mean as regards Belgium? To 
Belgium, when she addressed, as she did in the 
last three days, the moving appeal to us to fulfill 
our solemn guarantee of her neutrality, what was 
our position: What reply could we have given to 
that appeal if we were obliged to say that without 
her knowledge we had bartered away to the 
Powers which threatened her an obligation to keep 
our plighted word? 

"The House and the country have read in the 
course of the last few hours the pathetic words of 
the Belgian King to his people. I do not think any 
man can have read that appeal with an unmoved 
heart. The Belgians are fighting — losing their 
lives. What would have been the position of Great 
Britain today in the face of that spectacle if we 
had assented to this infamous proposal? What 
were we to get in return for this betrayal of our 



of the War of 1914 73 

friends and this dishonouring of our obligations? 
We were to get promises, nothing more, promises 
made by a Power which, I am very sorry to say, 
was at that very moment announcing its inten- 
tion to violate its own treaty and was asking us to 
do the same. If we had done that this country 
would have been forever dishonoured. 

"I am entitled to say on behalf of this country — 
I speak not for a party but for the country as a 
whole — that we made every effort any Govern- 
ment could possibly make, and that war has been 
forced upon us. What is it that we are fighting for? 
No one knows better than the Government the 
terrible, the incalculable suffering, economic, social, 
personal, political, which war, and especially war 
between the Great Powers of the world, must 
entail. 

"There is not a man among us sitting on this 
bench (i. e. y an adherent of the party in power) 
in these trying days — more trying perhaps than 
any body of statesmen for a hundred years has 
had to pass through — who has not during the 
whole of this time had clearly before his vision, 
the suffering, the almost brutal suffering, which 
war must bring not only to us who are living in 
this country and in the other countries of Europe, 
but to posterity and the whole prospect of Eu- 
ropean civilization. Every step we took we took 



Cause sand Consequences 

with that vision before our eyes and with that 
responsibility which it is impossible to describe in 
words. 

"If in spite of all our efforts for peace and with 
that full and overpowering consciousness of the 
results, if the issue were decided in favour of war, 
we have thought it nevertheless to be the duty as 
well as the interest, of this country to go to war, 
the House may be well assured it is because we 
believe we were unsheathing our sword in a just 
cause. If I am asked what we are fighting for I 
can reply in two sentences. In the first place, to 
fulfill a solemn international obligation — an ob- 
ligation which if it had been entered into between 
private persons in the ordinary concerns of life 
would have been regarded as an obligation not 
only law but of honour, and which no self- 
respecting man could possibly have repudiated. I 
say, secondly, that we are fighting to vindicate the 
principle, in these days when material force some- 
times seems to be the dominant influence and 
factor in the development of mankind, that small 
nationalities are not to be crushed in defiance of 
international good faith at the arbitary will of a 
strong and over-mastering Power. 

"I do not think any nation ever entered into a 
great conflict — and this is one of the greatest that 
history will ever know — with a clearer conscience 



of the War of 1914 75 

and a stronger conviction that it is fighting not for 
aggresion, not for the maintenance of its own sel- 
fish interests, but in defence of principles the main- 
tenance of which is vital to the civilization of the 
world. If with full conviction not only of the wis- 
dom and justice but of the obligation which lay 
upon us to challenge this great issue, if we are 
entered into the struggle, let us now make sure 
that all the resources, not only of the United King- 
dom but of the vast Empire of which it is the 
center shall be thrown into the scale. 

"It is that that object may be adequately secured 
that I am now about to ask this committee to give 
the Government a vote of credit for a hundred 
millions sterling. As rule in the past votes of this 
kind have been taken simply for naval and mili- 
tary operations, but we have thought it right to 
ask the House that this money may be applied not 
only for strictly naval and military operations but 
for assisting the food supply, promoting the con- 
tinuance of trade, industry, business, and com- 
munication, whether by means of insurance or 
indemnity against risk or otherwise, for the re- 
lief of distress and generally for all expenses aris- 
ing out of the existence of a state of war. 

"I believe the committee will agree with us that 
it was wise to extend the ambit of the vote of 
credit in this way. It gives the Government a free 



76 Causes and Consequences 

hand. Of course, the Treasury will account, and 
any expenditure that takes place will be subject 
to the approval of the House, but it would be a 
great pity, and even a great disaster, if in a crisis 
of this magnitude we were not enabled to make 
provision, far more needed now than under the 
simpler conditions which prevailed in the old 
days, for all the expenditure which the existence 
of a state of war between the Great Powers of 
Europe must entail upon any one of them. 

"I am asking also in the character which I pos- 
sessed until this morning, that of Secretary of 
State for War, for a Supplementary Estimate for 
men in the army. Allow me to say — it is a per- 
sonal matter — that I took upon myself the office 
of Secretary of State for War under conditions — 
I won't go back to them — which are fresh in the 
memory of everybody, in the hope and with the 
object that a condition of things in the army which 
all of us deplored might speedily be brought to 
an end and complete confidence re-established. 1 
believe that is the case. I know it is the case. 
There is no more loyal and united body, no body 
in which the spirit and habit of discipline is more 
deeply engrained and cherished than in the Brit- 
ish army. 

"Glad as I should be to continue the work of the 
office, and would have done so under normal con- 



of the War of 1914 77 

ditions, it would not be fair to the army or just 
to the country that any Minister should divide 
his attention between that department and the 
other, and still less that the first Minister of the 
Crown, who has to look into the affairs of all the 
departments and is ultimately responsible for the 
whole policy of the country, should give, as he 
can only give, a perfunctory attention to the af- 
fairs of our army in a great war. 

"I am glad to say that the very distinguished 
soldier and administrator, Lord Kitchener, with 
the public spirit and patriotism which everyone 
would expect from him, at my request has stepped 
into the breach. Lord Kitchener, as everybody 
knows, is not a politician. His association with the 
Government as a member of the Cabient for this 
purpose must not be taken as in any way identi- 
fying him with any set of political opinions. He 
has, in a great public emergency, responded to a 
great public call, and I am certain he will have 
with him, in the discharge of one of the most 
arduous tasks which have ever fallen to a Minister, 
the complete confidence of men of all parties. 

"I am asking on his behalf, for the army, power 
to increase the number of men of all ranks, in 
addition to the number already voted, by no less 
than a half a million. I am certain the House will 
not refuse us that. We are encouraged to ask for 



78 Causes and Consequences 

it not only by our own sense of the gravity and 
the necessities of the case, but by the knowledge 
that India is prepared to send us certainly two 
divisions, and every one of our self-governing 
dominions spontaneously and unasked, has already 
tendered to the utmost limit of their possibilities, 
both in men and in money, every help that they 
can afford to the Empire in a moment of supreme 
trial. The Mother- country must set the example 
while she responds with gratitude and with af- 
fection to these filial overtures from the outlying 
members of our family. 

"This is not an occasion for controversial dis- 
cussion. In what I have said I believe I have not 
gone beyond the strict requirements of the truth. 
It is not my purpose, it is not the purpose of any 
patriotic man, to inflame feeling, to indulge in 
rhetoric, to excite international animosities. The 
situation is far too grave for that. We have got a 
great duty to perform. We have got a great trust 
to fulfill, and I am confident that Parliament and 
the country will enable us to do it." 

Mr. Bonar Law said he would have liked to 
leave Mr. Asquith's speech as the expression of the 
views of a nation and not of a party, but he 
thought it well that the atittude of the opposition 
should be defined to the country. "In our belief 
we are in a state of war against our will and after 



of the War of 1914 79 

we as a nation had done everything in our power 
to prevent such a condition of things arising." 
He had said that he never believed that a war with 
Germany was inevitable and that if it came it 
would be due to human folly. "It is due to human 
folly and to human wickedness," he observed 
impressively, "but neither the folly nor the wicked- 
ness is here. 

"For years everyone has known that the key of 
peace or war lay in Berlin, and at this crisis Berlin, 
if it had chosen, could have prevented this ter- 
rible conflict. But I am afraid the miscalculation 
that was made about Russia ('Russia is not in a 
condition to go to war,' the German ambassador 
said) , was made about us. The despatch which has 
been referred to is not one that would have been 
addressed to us if it had been believed that our 
hand was free and that we held the position which 
we had always held before. We are fighting, as 
the Prime Minister has said, for the honour, and 
with the honour has always been bound up the 
interest of the country, but we are fighting also 
for the whole basis of the civilization for which 
Europe stands. 

"Look at the way in which Belgium is being 
treated today! If it is not true now it may be true 
tomorrow, that the city of Liege is invaded by the 
Germans and that civilians, as in the days of the 



80 Causes and Consequences 

Middle Ages, are fighting for their hearths and 
homes against trained troops. In a state of war, 
war must be waged, but this plan is not of today 
or yesterday. It has been long matured. The 
Germans were ready to take the course which 
they have taken of saying to Belgium: 'Destroy 
your independence; let our troops go through or 
we will come down upon you with a might which 
it is impossible for you to resist.' It we had allowed 
that to be done our position as one of the great 
nations of the world would have been lost. This 
is no small struggle. It is the greatest perhaps 
that this country has been engaged in, and the 
issue is uncertain. It is Napoleonism once again, 
but, thank Heaven, so far as we know there is no 
Napoleon." 

Passing from the cause of the war, Mr. Bonar 
Law turned to the question of food supply, re- 
peating the comforting assurance that there was 
no danger of scarcity, but only the danger of a 
fear of scarcity. He sounded one note of warning. 
"This war, unexpected by us, is not unexpected 
by our enemies, and I shall be greatly surprised if 
we do not find that at first on our trade routes 
there is a destruction of our property. That is 
inevitable, I think, at the outset. Let us be pre- 
pared for it, and let us realize that it has no bear- 
ing whatever on the ultimate course of the war. M 



of the War of 1914 81 

He did not wish to be unduly optimistic but he 
felt there was a real danger of our taking too 
gloomy a view of the situation. "Five-sixths of 
our production is consumed in the home trade. 
After all, the total amount of our exports to the 
European countries now at war is only a small 
part of our export trade. In my belief — I have 
not looked at the figures — they do not exceed the 
exports to India and Australia taken alone. If 
our trade routes are maintained we shall have our 
trade with the colonies and with the North Ameri- 
can Continent, and unfortunately for them none 
of our enemies will be able to compete with us in 
those markets. I think, therefore, that while we 
have no right to believe that trade will be good, it 
will be much more nearly normal than is general- 
ly believed." Finally Mr. Bonar Law said any 
member of the opposition would be glad to serve 
the Government and the country to the best of 
his ability if his assistance was desired. 

When the motion for the war credit of £100,- 
000,000 was put not a single voice was raised 
against it, and it was declared carried amid loud 
cheers. 

Without discussion the House voted 500,000 
additional men for the army and 67,000 for the 
navy. 

A proclamation was issued on Tuesday night 



82 Causes and Consequences 

prohibiting the exportation of war stores and goods 
from the United Kingdom. 

A formal declaration of war upon Austria was 
made by Great Britain upon August 12. 

On the 23rd of August Japan declared war upon 
Germany, and commenced a bombardment and 
siege of Kiaochow, Germany's only possession on 
the Yellow Seas ; it is leased from China, comprises 
about 200 square miles with a white population 
of about 5,000. As in all such cases, the white 
population is strictly German. Germany's colonies 
are only for exploitation by Germany. Japan's 
action is of inestimable importance to Great 
Britain as it relieves that country of any embar- 
rassment in connection with the protection of her 
Indo-Chinese trade. 

On September 4, Russia, France and Great 
Britain signed an agreement that none of the 
three would make peace without the consent 
of all three nations. Following is the text of the 
protocol: 

"The undersigned, duly authorized thereto by 
their respective governments, hereby declare as 
follows : 

"The British, French, and Russian Governments 
mutually engage not to conclude peace separately 
during the present war. The three governments 
agree that when the terms of peace come to be 



of the War of 1914 83 

discussed, no one of the allies will demand condi- 
tions of peace without the previous agreement of 
each of the other allies. 

"In faith whereof the undersigned have signed 
this declaration and have affixed thereto their 
seals. 

"Done at London, in triplicate, this fifth day of 
September, 1914. 
"E GREY, 

"British Secretary for Foreign Affairs. 
'PAUL CAMBON, 

'French Ambassador to Great Britain. 
BENCKENDORFF, 
Russian Ambassador to Great Britain.' 1 






84 Causes and Consequences 



CHAPTER VII 
ENGLAND'S COLONIES 

In her hour of peril, Britain's children, "beyond 
the seas," have rallied to her aid. 

Upon the eve of the war, Canada, through the 
Duke of Connaught, despatched the following 
message from Ottawa to the home government: 

"My Government (the Canadian Government) 
desire me to send you the following: 

"My advisers, while expressing the most earn- 
est hope that a peaceful solution of existing inter- 
national difficulties may be achieved, and their 
strong desire to cooperate in every possible way 
for that purpose, wish me to convey to his Majes- 
ty's Government the firm assurance that, if un- 
happily war should ensue, the Canadian people 
will be united in a common resolve to put forth 
every effort and to make every sacrifice neces- 
sary to ensure the integrity and maintain the 
honour of our Empire." 

The Governor of New Zealand cabled: 

"With great enthusiasm and with the acclama- 
tion of all parties in Parliament tonight the Prime 
Minister made a declaration, which was seconded 
by Sir Joseph Ward, to the effect that, if necessity 
unfortunately arose, New Zealand was prepared 



of the War of 1914 85 

to send her utmost quota of help in support of the 
Empire. I am desired to convey these sentiments 
to his Majesty the King and to the Imperial 
Government. 

"I will telegraph both utterances later." 

Australia and India have sent similar assur- 
ances. 

These promises of aid were rapidly fulfilled. 
At the end of September, a completely equipped 
Indian Army of 70,000 men commanded by 
British officers landed at Marseille and were 
rushed to the fighting line near Paris. 

On October 1st, 31,300 Canadian soldiers and 
8,000 horses were embarked at Rimouski (on the 
St. Lawrence) for some port in the English chan- 
nel. 

Thirty-one ships were required to carry the 
men, the guns, the horses and the supplies of the 
overseas expeditionary force. To convoy that 
number of ships a fleet of eleven war vessels was 
requisitioned, the whole movement being the 
largest and most important ever effected. 



86 Causes and Consequences 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE LAND FORCES 

Napoleon began his Russian campaign in 1812 
with an army 600,000 strong, made up of con- 
tingents from France, Italy, the minor German 
States, Holland, Poland, Switzerland, the Adri- 
atic provinces, and elsewhere. Rumania, with a 
population of seven millions, could mobilize a 
larger force than this cosmopolitan host which 
Napoleon drew from half Europe. The great 
battles of Blenheim, Austerlitz, Jena, and the 
rest were fought with armies which represented 
less than 1 per cent, sometimes not half or a 
quarter per cent, of the peoples whose fate they 
decided. The Germans call the battle of Leipzig 
the Volkerschlacht, the Battle of the Nations. 
The nations were Austria, Prussia, Russia, and 
Sweden, with a combined population which could 
not have been less than 120,000,000. They opened 
the campaign with an army of about 500,000 men, 
which is not much more than Bulgaria sent into 
the field against Turkey. 

Compare with these figures those of the armed 
multitudes which are now to be arrayed against 
one another. The full war strength of Russia 
when mobilization is complete will be over 



of the War of 1914 87 

5,000,000 of men. That of Great Britain, excluding 
her colonies, and India, 600,000; that of Germany 
approximately 4,000,000; that of France, under 
the new military system, should be well over 
3,500,000; that of Austria-Hungary between 
2,000,000 and 2,500,000; Servia is supposed to be 
able to put into the field between 300,000 and 
400,000 men. Here we get the truly colossal total 
of something like 14,000,000 of men embodied for 
military service. They will not all be in the fight- 
ing line, of course; they will not even be all armed; 
many of the contingents of the Austrian Landsturm 
reservists up to the age of forty-two, whom the 
Emperor has called out, are unarmed and unregi- 
mented. But they will all be brought away from 
their ordinary occupations ; they will be withdrawn 
from productive industry; they will be at the dis- 
posal of the military authorities; the great majority 
of them will be taking part in the campaigns, either 
at the front or in holding lines of communication, 
garrisoning fortresses, guarding war-like stores, 
depots, and prisoners, acting as gendarmerie and 
special police to maintain internal order; or as- 
sisting in the transport, supply, medical, and 
technical services. To the 14,000,000 of men we 
may add perhaps another million of women, who 
will be in the Red Cross detachments and at the 
base hospitals, or even with the field ambulances. 



88 Causes and Consequences 

Such is the first tremendous draft which modern 
warfare makes upon the human resources of the 
belligerent peoples. 

In the past the comparatively small armies of 
professional or mercenary soldiers could conduct 
their operations without making the heaviest in- 
roads upon the general vitality. A great part of 
the territory might remain almost unaffected, 
though 100,000 men were fighting in one corner. 
The armies marched and countermarched, leav- 
ing a broad ribbon of devastation on either side 
of their track; but for the mass of the population 
daily life could be maintained under something 
like normal conditions. The peasant hoed and 
reaped, the trader sold his wares, though the 
blood-tax lay heavy upon them both. Even in 
France, in the very stress of the Napoleonic wars, 
it is strange to find from the memoirs of the period 
how little the ordinary framework of society had 
been disturbed; and in England, says Mr. Sidney 
Low, in the London Daily Mail, "we went on 
with our country life, our busy urban industry, 
our sports, our amusements, our political contro- 
versies, all through the great struggle. In the very 
thick of the fight we found time to vote at parlia- 
mentary elections, to attend boxing matches and 
race meetings, to read Scott and Byron." 

In the new war it must be otherwise. There is 



of the War of 1914 89 

not a household, a workshop, a farm, a peasant's 
cottage that will not be involved directly in the 
operations. In a country like Servia every adult 
man between the ages of twenty and fifty will be 
in arms. Servia may not feel that so much as com- 
munities with a more complex civilization. But 
what of Germany, Austria, France? If ever 
3,000,000 men are embodied under the tricolour of 
the Republic, that means that one male French- 
man out of three, of all ages and classes, will be in 
the ranks. There will not be a family in France 
which has not a father, a husband, a son, a brother, 
a breadwinner of some kind withdrawn from his 
home and work, turned into a purely military 
instead of a social and industrial unit for so long 
as the campaign may endure. 

And the new warfare differs from the old not 
merely in the numbers engaged but in the condi- 
tions under which it is conducted. In the past the 
armies were to a great extent self-supporting or 
locally supplied. True, munitions of war and many 
other things had to be forwarded to them, and there 
was "post-haste and romage through the land," 
even in Shakespeare's time, to keep them equipped. 
But in these days the whole energies of the nation 
must be employed on the work. Though the 
fighting may be performed on the Danube, or the 
Vistula, or among the passes of the Vosges, there 



90 Causes and Consequences 

will not be a railway porter in the centre of Ger- 
many or the remote interior of Russia who will 
not be concerned in it. 

To keep the host of three or four millions armed, 
clothed, doctored, and provisioned the entire 
energies of the entire non-combatant population 
must be engaged. Not a letter can be posted in a 
Vienna suburb, not a pint of petrol sold in a Berlin 
grocery, without regard to the military necessi- 
ties. From Vladivostock to Brest every railway 
time-table, if, indeed, any trains other than troop 
trains are run at all, must be regulated by the 
same considerations. In China when the Japanese 
were winning their easy victories over the Imperial 
troops it is said that there were many millions of 
peasants who did not know there was a war and had 
never heard of Japan. That is how things may be 
when society is still in the stable, primitive state, 
when war is an affair of Government and soldiers. 
But with the war of the peoples, such as the allies 
are now facing, there is no house that will be spared, 
though it be hundreds of leagues from the place of 
slaughter, there is no man or woman who will be 
left untouched. 

This is the real problem that lies before the Gov- 
ernments of the Continent of Europe, if not that 
of England. War has been closely studied in all 
its aspects for years past by the strategists, the 



of the War of 1914 91 

scientists, the tacticians. But have they seriously 
worked out the results of the social and economic 
disorganization that must ensue upon this levee 
en masse of entire populations? Nobody, indeed, 
can forecast what will happen when three hundred 
millions of civilized people are confronted with a 
cataclysm for which the past can offer no parallel. 
But it is on these factors, appalling and incompre- 
hensible in their magnitude, more] even than on 
the skill of the generals or the valor of the soldiers, 
that the issue of the world-conflict will turn. 



92 Causes and Consequences 



CHAPTER IX 

THE SEA POWER 

Upon the 31st day of July, 1914, four days 
before England declared war, her huge fleet left 
the shores under "secret" orders. The destina- 
tion of this huge "armada" may be readily guessed, 
when we remember the function of England's 
navy. It is to safeguard England's seaborne 
commerce and to keep open to her carriers the 
highways through which her supplies must travel — 
supplies not only of food but of fighting men from 
her distant colonies. This purpose could only 
be served by destroying Germany's powerful 
navy or "bottling it up" in its home waters at 
Hamburg, Wilhelmshaven, Cuxhaven and Kiel. 

The "Home Fleet" thus sent forth was the 
largest ever assembled under one flag. It was 
manned by more than two hundred thousand 
men. It comprised sixty battleships; twelve 
battle cruisers; fifty-four cruisers; one hundred 
and eighty-four torpedo vessels, fifty-eight sub- 
marines and ninety-five auxilliary craft. 

If England succeeds in thus impounding the 
German fleet and keeping it in this comparatively 
innocuous condition until the close of the war, her 
vast expenditures incurred in the maintenance of 



of the War of 1914 93 

her naval supremacy may be justified by attrib- 
uting to it the preservation of her national life. 

Great Britain now has "in commission" sixty 
battleships, twenty of which are of the "dread- 
naught" or "super-dreadnaught" type. The small- 
est of these twenty heavy gun ships are the "Aga- 
memnon" and "Lord Nelson," launched, respec- 
tively, six and five years ago; they are each of 
16,000 tons displacement, 16,750 horse-power 
and have a coal capacity of 2,500 tons. Speed 
18 knots, 4 to 12 inches of armor belt and from 8 
to 12 inches protection shields for the big guns. 
The armament consists of 4 12 -inch, 10 9. 2 -inch 
and 24 3 -inch rapid fire, and 5 machine guns. 
They have 5 torpedo tubes. In the same year 
that the "Lord Nelson" left the stocks (1909), 
three ships of the same type were launched but 
they were of 18,600 tons displacement, greater 
speed (21 knots), and of heavier armament and 
horse-power; and so, each succeeding year has 
witnessed an almost — but not quite — uninter- 
rupted increase in these four features; size, arma- 
ment, speed and horse-power, culminating in the 
"Queen Mary" with a displacement of 27,000 
tons, 28 knots speed and 75,000 horse-power. - 

Even more powerful than the "super-dread- 
noughts" are the ten new "battle cruisers," nine 
of which are being rushed to completion and one 



94 Causes and Consequences 

of which, "The Tiger," is afloat. She has 28,000 
tons displacement, speed of 30 knots and turbines 
capable of putting forth 110,000 horse-power 
with correspondingly greater bunker capacity 
and armament. 

In active service there were at the beginning 
of hostilities thirty-four armored crusiers of high 
speed to be used for general service; scouting 
supplies, commerce destroying. They are unable, 
for lack of sufficient armament, to cope in battle 
with a German battleship, but have sufficient 
speed (21 knots) to out-foot most of them. The 
Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue, destroyed by a 
German submarine while this book was in press, 
were of the six earliest and least efficient vessels 
of this type. 

An important arm of the service is represented 
by two hundred and thirty-two destroyers, of 
which one hundred and thirty-four are the sea- 
going type, oil burners and of a speed of from 30 
to 35 knots. All exceed 700 tons displacement, 
sixteen of them are from 120 to 1,350 tons. One 
(the Swift) has a displacement of 2,170 tons, 
30,000 horse-power and a speed of 36 knots. The 
destroyers are armed with 4-inch guns and carry 
21-inch torpedo tubes. The torpedoes have a 
range of about five nautical miles at an average 
speed of 24 knots. 



of the War of 1914 95 

The Navy of France ranks fourth in the world. 
It is probable that the part played by the French 
ships in the war will be extremely inconspicuous 
and supremely useful as it will liberate British 
ships from the Mediterranean and allow Great 
Britain to concentrate almost her entire naval 
strength where it is most needed; the English 
Channel and the North Sea. 

The naval strength of Austria may be dis- 
regarded as the overwhelming preponderance of 
French "sea power" in the Mediterranean make 
the few battleships and cruisers belonging to the 
dual-monarchy a negligible factor. Russia's naval 
force may be as summarily dismissed. The most 
useful function of the Russian ships is being 
performed in laying mines to protect Russian 
harbors. 

Germany's naval strength to that of Great 
Britain is about as five to eight. The difference 
is in numerical preponderance. Ships of the 
two countries of the same class compared, ship 
to ship, show but little differences. 



96 Causes and Consequences 



CHAPTER X 

THE FINANCIAL RESOURCES OF THE GREAT 

POWERS 

War nowadays is a matter of finance as well as 
of arms, and in a prolonged campaign financial 
resources would count as much as military skill. 

The importance of the financial factor has never 
been more obvious than it is now, when the threat 
of a great European war has thrown every Con- 
tinental Bourse into a state of demoralization and 
paralysis. London alone has refrained so far from 
suspending its financial functions, and even here 
the panic on the Continent has produced an un- 
precedented restriction of dealing. 

When so vital a part of the financial structure is 
in danger of breaking down, all the usual data 
that go to indicate a nation's financial resources 
become to a great extent valueless, but they are 
still of use for purposes of rough comparison. 

Of the amount of hard cash that the countries 
of Europe have at their command the returns of 
the State banks are the best guide we have. 
According to the last weekly returns these are the 
amounts of coin and bullion held by the central 
banks of the B.ve greatest Powers: 

Austria $321,000,000 

France 948,500.000 



of the War of 1914 97 

Germany $422,500,000 

Great Britain 201,000,000 

Russia 872,500,000 

These could only become available as a war 
chest if their primary functions as a backing for 
paper currency and credit were suspended. They 
are of greatest value when exercising those func- 
tions. Although Britain's central gold reserve is 
the smallest, it is, as a matter of fact, the most 
valuable because it forms the backing of an im- 
mense volume of credit of international value. It 
is only on the assumption that this great credit 
system would entirely fall to the ground that 
England should have to fall back upon her gold 
reserve in paying for the munitions of war. 

Until this almost inconceivable contingency 
occurs credit rather than actual possession of 
gold must be the main source of the wherewithal 
for military operations. Even Germany's special 
war chest of $30,000,000 counts for little while 
credit lasts. 

Despite the serious depreciation that has oc- 
curred in British Government securities, that 
country still commands a higher degree of credit 
than any Continental country. The best guide to 
the comparative credit enjoyed by the various 
Powers is afforded by this statement of the yield 
of interest obtainable on their leading stocks at 
current prices: 



98 Causes and Consequences 

Interest Yield at 
Present Price. 

Austria 4.9 % 

France 3.9 % 

Germany 4.16% 

Great Britain 3.5 % 

Russia 5 % 

This, roughly speaking, means that Great Bri- 
tain can raise money on terms 15 per cent cheaper 
than Germany. 

Moreover, in considering the comparative ability 
of European countries to raise money it must be 
remembered that the existence of a great war in 
Europe would limit each Power's credit to its 
own territories and those of its friends and allies. 
Austria and Germany would not be able to raise 
money in England or France. And England and 
France are the world's great lending countries. 
The amount of money raised in England and in 
France year by year for the use of our own enter- 
prises and those of foreign countries is immeasur- 
ably greater than the corresponding amount raised 
in other European countries. These great resources 
would be entirely at the disposal of the British and 
French Governments, for in no countries are the 
holders and controllers of the purse-strings more 
patriotic. 

It is in the light of these actual new credit re- 
sources that the existing national debts tabulated 
in the following statement be considered: 



of the War of 1914 99 

Austria ' $3,970,000,000 

France 6,575,000,000 

Germany 3,705,000,000 

Great Britain 3,535,000,000 

Russia 4,500,000,000 

I have included Hungary's debt with the Aus- 
tria's and Prussia's with that of the German 
Empire. 

One factor that seriously prejudices the bor- 
rowing powers of Germany and Austria is the ex- 
tent to which they have made use of these powers 
in times of peace. During the past ten years, while 
Great Britain has been paying off debt, Germany 
and Austria-Hungary between them have in- 
creased their national debts by the enormous sum 
of about $1,500,000,000. 

In fact, as far as financial resources go, all the 
evidences are in favour of Great Britain. The 
events of the past week have served to emphasize 
the sounder foundation on which her financial 
markets are built. With practically every Conti- 
nental Bourse either entirely or partly suspended, 
the London Stock Exchange was able to continue 
its operations in face of the difficulties seriously 
augmented by the paralysis of business abroad. 
What applies to the Stock Exchange is true to a 
far greater degree of the banks and the money 
market. 



100 Causes and Consequences 

In Germany, at the beginning of the war, there 
was everywhere a tremendous rush for gold and a 
tremendous rush for food supplies. For some days, 
the private banks having already refused cash, 
the Imperial Bank was so besieged that the doors 
were shut early in the morning, and it was stated 
that the officials already had more business than 
they could handle before closing time. The food 
shops made a wanton harvest for a few days, 
doubling, for instance, the price of salt and sugar, 
and charging famine prices for loaves and fancy 
prices for tinned provisions. In reality, as regards 
the monetary situation, there seemed to be remark- 
able confidence, at any rate until the news of the 
increase of the English Bank rate to 8 per cent, 
which struck financiers like the news of a lost 
battle. As regards food there can be no pinch yet. 
A great deal depends upon the getting in of the 
splendid harvest. 

Germany is making an astounding drain upon 
her financial reserves and her credit system, and 
creating a situation which may be tolerable in 
victory, but will be appalling in defeat. It must 
not be forgotten that they are the preparations of 
a country which only last year was afraid or un- 
able to raise any more ordinary taxes, and pro- 
ceeded to a direct confiscation of capital by way 
of the "levy" — little or any of which, by the way, 



of the War of 1914 101 

has yet been collected. About the collection of 
taxes and of the' levy" nothing definite is known 
at the time of writing. The tax-collectors have 
for the moment been commandeered by the mili- 
tary authorities to arrange for the billeting of 
troops. In Berlin they were making a census of 
accommodation . 

The Reichstag on the 4th of August passed with- 
out discussion seventeen emergency bills. The 
first authorizes extraordinary expenditure to the 
amount of $1,825,000,000— $1,250,000,000 from 
loan and $75,000,000 from the Empire's stock of 
gold and silver. I will try to group the most im- 
portant of the other measures, taking the financial 
measures first. 

The German bank law, in order to counteract 
an excess of bank-notes, makes the Imperial Bank 
pay a tax of 5 per cent of the amount by which its 
notes in circulation exceed the stock of cash. This 
provision has now been suspended for an indefi- 
nite period. In peace time the Imperial Bank must 
cover the notes in circulation which are not 
covered in cash by discounted bills with a currency 
of not more than three months and backed by 
three or at any rate two good names. These re- 
strictions have been removed, and the Imperial 
Bank of Germany can now buy bills with only 
one signature. Further, the Bank is now allowed 



102 Causes and Consequences 

to cover its note issue not only by discounted bills 
but by any Imperial acceptances which fall due 
within three months. 

All the legal paper money issued by the Imperial 
Bank now becomes legal tender, and there is no 
distinction left between actual "bank-notes" and 
other paper. The Imperial Bank has been relieved 
of its obligation to hand out gold in exchange for 
its paper. The private note-issuing banks are re- 
lieved of their obligation to give gold in exchange 
for their notes and are allowed to give Imperial 
bank-notes instead. These provisions take effect 
not from the declarations of war but from July 3 1 , 
when the Kreigszustand was declared. In peace 
time the Imperial Bank in Berlin and its branches 
at Frankfort-on-Main, Konigsberg, and Munich 
are compelled to give gold in exchange for parcels 
of silver coins to the amount of not less than $50, 
or of nickel or copper coins to the amount of not 
less than $12.50. These obligations are now sus- 
pended by an amendment of the Coinage Law. 
This is mainly a precautionary measure. 

At present the Imperial Bank is engaged in 
satisfying the demand for silver and nickel from 
its extraordinary resources, rather than fearing a 
demand for gold in exchange for silver and nickel. 
But it is calculated that, when the first rush of 
adjustments of accounts among the public has 



of the War of 1914 103 

passed, there will be a fresh effort to turn the 
accumulations of silver and nickel into gold. The 
Empire is enabled for an indefinite period to employ 
bills (Wechsel) as an additional form of credit — 
these bills being, of course, free from taxation. 
Bill and cheque transactions are in Germany sub- 
ject to restrictions unknown in other countries, and 
there is practically no escape from the necessity to 
present bills and cheques immediately they fall 
due and to take action immediately they are dis- 
honoured. The law has now been amended so as 
to protect the holders of bills from the conse- 
quences of the state of war, and especially of the 
interruption of postal and other communications. 
In order to help industry all the restrictions of 
any importance which the Gewerbeordnung places 
upon employment and the regulation of hours of 
labor in particular industries have been removed. 
This is much as if the Factory Acts and all similar 
measures in England were to be suspended. The 
provisions of the Sick Insurance and other Im- 
perial Insurance Laws have been adapted to the 
needs of war-time. The legal provisions for the 
support of families of soldiers have been amended. 
The German law fixes minimum rates of aid. 
The minimum rates are only — for a wife, $2.25 a 
month in May, June, July, August, September 
and October, and $3.00 a month in the other 



104 Causes and Consequences 

months of the year; for every child under 15 years 
of age $1.50 a month. 

As already reported, the export of all important 
foodstuffs and fodder has been forbidden. The 
Government is now empowered to suspend the 
customs duties on food of all sorts and also to 
remove the restrictions on food imports — for ex- 
ample, of frozen meat. Powers have been given 
to the local authorities to fix maximum prices of 
foodstuffs, natural products, and fuel, and to 
compel sales of all stocks which the owners do not 
actually require for themselves. The local authori- 
ties are given complete freedom to arrange matters 
through the ordinary business channels or to con- 
duct trade themselves. All costs of organization 
will be deducted from the maximum prices paid 
to holders of stocks. Practically all, if not all, the 
German produce bourses are closed; there is in 
Germany no provision for premature settlement of 
long-term contracts, and therefore a law has been 
passed enabling the Government authorities to 
intervene whenever necessary and close bargains 
at prices which they will fix — the difference be- 
tween the prices so fixed and the contract prices 
being paid by buyer or seller respectively according 
as the contract price is higher or lower than the 
price fixed. 

Perhaps the most remarkable bill of all is that 



of the War of 1914 105 

for the granting — up to a total amount of $375,- 
000,000 — of loans on all sorts of stocks and securi- 
ties. In connection with the Imperial Bank special 
loan institutions will be set up which will issue 
special paper (Darlehnskassenscheine). This paper 
will be honored by the Imperial Bank and have 
the same status as banknotes, although the public 
is not obliged to accept it in payment. The loans 
will run as a rule from three months and excep- 
tionally for six months. The "loan" paper will be 
issued in notes of $1.25, $2.50, $5 and $12.50. 
Loans can be effected on all sorts of (not perish- 
able) trade stock and industrial products up to 
one-half or even two-thirds of the assessed value; 
upon all sound German stocks and shares up to 
something less than the market quotation; and 
upon any other securities which the authorities 
choose to accept. In the case of goods which are 
subject to wide fluctuations of price, the security 
of a third person must be given. The procedure 
will simply be that the loans will be arranged by 
negotiation and that the authorities will, without 
removing stock given as security, place their seal 
upon it. 

There was a modest scheme of this sort in 1870, 
but the whole amount then involved was only 
$22,500,000 as compared with the present sum 
of $375,000,000. The rate of interest is, as a rule, 



106 Causes and Consequences 

to be something above the published rate at which 
the Imperial Bank discounts bills. It is no doubt 
a wonderful scheme of relief — and it should be 
added that the loan establishments will do busi- 
ness down to an amount so small as $25. But, 
once again, one wonders what appalling conse- 
quences will result if the war drags on and trade 
remains at a standstill. 



of the War of 1914 107 



CHAPTER XI 

FOOD SUPPLIES OF THE BELLIGERENT POWERS 

Europe, apart from Russia, imports annually 
500,000,000 bushels of wheat. 

Great Britain produces about 20 per cent of the 
wheat she consumes — 250,000,000 — so, that coun- 
try alone, accounts for 200,000,000 of Europe 
wheat imports. She imports anmYally 1,000,000,000 
pounds of beef and vast stores of mutton. Ger- 
many consumes 300,000,000 bushels, and raises 
170,000,000. Hitherto she has drawn upon Russia, 
Roumania and America. Part of this supply will 
now be cut off, maybe all of it. If the United 
States insists that neutral vessels laden with wheat 
labelled for Holland ports, but intended for de- 
livery in Germany are exempt from seizure, and 
England acquiesces in that view, Germany's posi- 
tion will be greatly simplified. In any event, Russia 
is entirely independent of outside food supplies; 
and Prance largely so; last year she only imported 
30,000,000 bushel of oats. 

This brings us to Germany's gravest predica- 
ment — fodder for her horses ; she has been import- 
ing 50,000,000 bushels of oats and 100,000,000 of 
barley, nearly all from Russia! Forage is so easily 
destroyed by fire that it is difficult to conceive 



108 Causes and Consequences 

of an invading force finding hay or grain in invaded 
territory. 

To summarize: Europe (excluding Russia) has a 
deficit of wheat, 500,000,000 bushels, of oats, 
200,000,000 bushels, of corn, 200,000,000 bushels. 

If the United States is instrumental in creating 
a merchant marine which will supply Germany's 
needs, she may, while adding temporarily, at 
least, to the prosperity of her citizens, become the 
all-important factor in the prolongation of this 
war. 

If the United States does successfully engage in 
the commercial side of this struggle, she will do so 
because the powers adversely affected by her ac- 
tion will deem it expedient to disregard the law of 
''seizure at sea" as it now stands. At present any 
vessel owned by a belligerent (and the ultimate 
ownership of the only vessels likely to be pur- 
chased by the United States is vested in Germany) 
are subject to capture even after their sale to 
neutrals, unless such sale took place sixty days 
prior to the declaration of war or the commence- 
ment of hostilities. 



of the War of 1914 



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110 Causes and Consequences 



CHAPTER XII 
THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR 

In considering the alternative consequences to 
the individual subjects of the countries involved 
in the war of 1914, one is at once impressed by 
their lack of proportion. If the Austro-German 
combination is beaten by the allies, the genius of 
the German people will not be repressed. The 
individual will not share in the misfortune of a 
government which is not his. The policy of Eng- 
land, which has been to offer equal opportunities 
to every white man, irrespective of political alle- 
giance, within any portion of her vast empire, will 
not nor can be changed. That policy is a funda- 
mental part of the British Constitution. The 
individual German prospector can still demand and 
receive without question his "free miner's right" 
in New South Wales, Canada, or the Gold Coast. 
The manufacturer of toy soldiers in Bavaria will 
still be able to market his wares abroad or to 
establish a factory under the British flag, and 
compete on even terms abroad with the native 
for local markets and for local labor. No matter 
to what cause is due this policy of the "open door" 
to all Caucasian races, it has been profitable to 
England and to civilization. It has made for the 



of the War of 1914 111 

development of natural resources. No other 
colonizing power has emulated England in this 
respect, and no other power has been a successful 
colonizer. The American, with abundant employ- 
ment for capital and energy, in his own country, 
does not realize that the broad avenues which 
invite him to the wheat fields of Canada have no 
counterpart in German or French Colonies. When 
the American insurance companies were expelled 
from Germany, after some millions of American 
money had been expended in the "spade work" 
of establishing them, it taught nothing except to 
the few men officially interested. Even the Ger- 
man has a hard time in a protectorate of his own 
country and wisely seeks a better market for his 
youth and energy under the English or American 
flag. An amusing instance of this policy of repres- 
sion was afforded when diamonds were discovered 
in German Southwest Africa; such a development 
in an English Colony would have meant, prob- 
ably, wealth for the discoverer (in the adjacent 
English territory he could have staked out, free, 
fifty claims), and a "boom" with attendant pros- 
perity for the neighborhood in which the dis- 
covery was made. What happened when this 
"good fortune" visited German territory? The 
diamonds were declared "imperial property," a 
score or so of persons, including the discoverer, 



112 



Causes and Consequences 



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of the War of 1914 113 

were arrested, searched, and in at least one case, 
a trial upon a criminal charge of misappropriation 
under an ex post facto law followed in Germany. 
Naturally enough, little has since been heard of 
the diamond mines of German Southwest Africa. 
The German is one of the best of colonists; he is 
a valuable acquisition to any country; but, he is 
found in his highest value under an alien flag; he 
should not be condemned for administrative faults 
for which he often suffers and for which he is not 
responsible. If Germany loses her colonies, he, 
with the rest of mankind, will be the gainer. 

Germany is an inefficient colonizer. Mr. Francis 
Gribble, in his book entitled "Francis Joseph," 
published in 1913, said: "The one permanent 
peril to European peace arises du/t of the hatred 
invariably felt for persons of German nationality 
by races subjected to their rule. 

"The trouble with the German, whether North 
or South, is always this: that he regards himself 
as the heaven-sent ruler of men, but can, as a 
matter of fact, only govern in a state of siege. He 
can win battles, and organize a civil service; but 
he can neither assimilate or conciliate his subjects. 
The German Empire is sometimes compared (by 
Germans) to the Roman Empire; but the differ- 
ence between the two is wide. The Romans, when 
they conquered the world, made it contentedly 



114 Causes and Consequences 

Roman. The French, similarly, when they took 
over Savoy, made it contentedly French. But no 
German dependency is ever contentedly German. 
Alsace is not; nor is Schleswig-Holstein nor 
Prussian Poland. In all these places, the German, 
in his jack-boots, strides about among a people 
who find his language barbarous, his 'culture' 
ridiculous and himself an odious interloper." 

If the allies win, Belgium's autonomy and terri- 
tory will be restored to her; France will regain the 
lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, which have 
always been Gallic at heart through the burden- 
some years of German occupation. 

The Czar of Russia has pledged himself, in the 
event of German defeat, to reconstitute the king- 
dom of Poland. He promises to restore her ancient 
territorial integrity and to grant her, under his 
sceptre, complete autonomy, religious freedom, and 
the use of her national tongue. This promise re- 
verses at a stroke that which has been the tradi- 
tional policy of Russia towards Poland, at all 
events since the latter years of Alexander I., and 
it runs counter to the whole system of "Russi- 
fication" upon centralized principles, which has 
been practised for so many years. Still more 
important is its bearing on the external relations 
of the Empire. Complicity in the partition of 
Poland has been the chief bond between Russia, 



of the War of 1914 



115 



POLAND AS IT WAS— AND MAY BE. 




Map Showing the Three Partitions of Poland, the Last of Which in 1795 Obliterated 
the Country. In 1772 Russia, Prussia and Austria All Took a Slice of Poland. In 
1793 Russia and Prussia Each Took Another Piece. In 1795 Russia, Prussia and 
Austria Divided What Was Left From 1793. However, in 1815 the Congress of 
Vienna Redivided the Spoils and Gave Poland to Russia Along a Line West of 
Warsaw. The Section in the North marked "Sweden 1660" is now Russia. 

POLAND MAY BECOME A SEMI-INDEPENDENT PRINCIPALITY AS A 

RESULT OF WAR. 



116 Causes and Consequences 

Prussia, and Austria since the close of the eight- 
eenth century. Russia has burst that bond asunder 
so that it can scarcely be re-knit. The partakers of 
the spoils of Poland have regarded the repression 
of Polish aspirations as their common interest. 
Notwithstanding the solemn undertakings which 
they gave at the Congress of Vienna, they have 
denied that the fate of the kingdom and of its 
people concerned any but themselves. In 1846, 
when they delivered up to Austria the last shred 
of independent Poland in the tiny Republic of 
Krakau, they treated the remonstrances of Eng- 
land and France with arrogant disdain. The Pol- 
ish question was theirs and theirs only, and they 
consulted together and acted together upon it. 
Russia has now thrown this entire system to the 
winds. The Czar appeals not only to the Poles 
of Russia but to the Poles of Prussia and of Aus- 
tria-Hungary as well. He invites the Polish sub- 
jects of Austria and Germany to transfer their 
allegiance to him, and he promises them reunion 
with their brethren in Russia and national au- 
tonomy under the Russian sceptre as their re- 
ward. He calls upon them to undo the work of 
Frederick the Great and Catherine and to recon- 
stitute their ancient kingdom in its integrity with 
the Emperor of Russia as its King. The integrity 
of Poland, if it were fully realized, would mean the 



of the War of 1914 117 

dismemberment of Prussia and the separation of 
Galicia from the Hapsburg lands. It would mean 
the annexation of the Prussian province of Posen, 
the thrusting back of the Prussian border to the 
Mark of Brandenburg and to Pomerania. To 
Austro-Hungary it would mean the loss of all her 
territory beyond the Carpathians from Silesia 
to the Bukovina — and probably to the Roumanian 
frontier. 

If, as now* seems probable, the allies prevail 
over the Teutons, England's attitude in the 
matter of Germany's future territorial limits will 
depend largely upon the disposition to be made of 
Germany's fleet; if her battleships are sold to 
other powers, or dismantled, England will con- 
tend strenuously for the retention by Germany of 
her Baltic and North Sea ports. In fact, even 
without naval disarmament, England will be very 
sensitive about the impairment of Germany's 
territorial limits upon the continent. 

Whether this war be prolonged or suddenly 
abated, it is now certain that the prophecies of 
Austria's disintegration made by the late W. T. 
Stead and those of his son and successor will 
be fulfilled. In the event of a swift termination 
of the war, following the German debacle in 
France, the Austria-Hungary dual monarchy 



♦September 21, 1914 



118 



Causes and Consequences 




of the War of 1914 119 

will disappear. In all likelihood Hungary will 
live in the future as a free and independent state, 
invested as is Switzerland with a great impor- 
tance so far as the conservation of European 
peace is concerned. 

All of Galicia will be embodied in the New 
Poland, to the establishment of which Russia has 
with great prescience and opportunism, pledged 
herself. 

That portion of Slavonic Austria, south of the 
River Drave and east of the fifteenth degree of 
longitude (this includes all of Bosnia, Herze- 
govina and Dalmatia), will be apportioned, in the 
first instance at least, to Servia and Montenegro; 
the remainder of what was Austria will probably 
be incorporated with the New Germany. 

Should Germany and Austria prevail over the 
allies, Austria will be incorporated with the Ger- 
man Empire, England, as the political center of 
the British dominions will disappear; the bond of 
British unity will be severed; petty English- 
speaking states, uncertain as to existence, will re- 
main in the places of Australia and Canada; Ger- 
man militarism will over-run Europe. Brazil, 
already Germanized, will fall more completely 
under the influences of Teutonic diplomacy, and 
an irritating commercial war will be declared on 
the United States by Germany, the seat of which 



120 Causes and Consequences 

will be that great South American State; Argen- 
tina and Uruguay, now permeated by British 
influence, may become involved in a war with 
their northern neighbor, and if the latter is ac- 
tively assisted by New and Greater Germany, 
the River Plate Republics may also find themselves 
under German hegemony. 

Should Italy become involved in the war as an 
ally of the members of the triple entente, and at the 
conclusion of hostilities be among the victors, the 
above forecast would need revision. Certainly, 
Trieste, and its environs, already Italian in pop- 
ulation, Istria and, probably, part of the Dal- 
matian coast would in that event, be added 
to the Italian territory as at present constituted. 



of the War of 1914 121 

APPENDIX 

Upon the 15th of September, 1914, the following 
statement was issued with the authority of Sir 
Edward Grey, secretary of state for foreign affairs, 
with regard to the communication made by Dr. 
von Bethmann-Hollweg, the imperial German 
chancellor, to the press: 

"'Does any one believe,' asks the German 
chancellor, 'that England would have interfered to 
protect Belgian freedom against France?' 

"The answer is that she would unquestionably 
have done so. Sir Edward Grey, as reported in 
the White Paper, asked the French government 
whether it was prepared to engage to respect the 
neutrality of Belgium so long as no other power 
violated it. 

"The French government replied that they 
were resolved to respect it. The assurance, it was 
added, had been given several times and had 
formed the subject of a conversation between 
President Poincare and the German chancellor, 
who entirely ignores the fact that England took 
the same line about Belgian neutrality in 1870 
that she has taken now. 

"In 1870 Prince Bismarck, when approached 
by England on the subject, admitted and respected 
the treaty obligations in relation to Belgium. 



122 Causes and Consequences 

"The British government stands in 1914 as it 
stood in 1870. It is Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg 
who refused to meet us in 1914 as Prince Bismarck 
met us in 1870. The imperial chancellor finds it 
strange that Mr. Asquith, in his Guild Hall 
speech, did not mention the neutrality of the 
Scandinavian countries, and suggests that the 
reason for the omission was some sinister design 
on England's part. 

"It is impossible for any public speaker to cover 
the whole ground in each speech. The German 
chancellor's reference to Denmark and other 
Scandinavian countries can hardly be considered 
very tactful with regard to Denmark. The Danes 
are not likely to have forgotten the part played 
by Prussia and England, respectively, in 1863 
and 1864, when the kingdom of Denmark was 
dismembered, and the integrity of Norway and 
Sweden was guaranteed by England and France 
in the treaty of Stockholm in 1855. 

"The imperial chancellor refers to the dealings 
of Great Britain with the Boer republic and sug- 
gests that she has been false therein to the cause 
of freedom. 

"Without going into controversies, now happily 
past, we may recall what Gen. Botha said in the 
South African parliament a few days ago when 
expressing his conviction of the righteousness of 



of the War of 1914 123 

Great Britain's cause and explaining the firm 
resolve of the South African union to aid her in 
every possible way. 

11 'Great Britain had given them a constitution, 
under which they could create a great nationality, 
and had ever since regarded them as a free people 
and as a sister state. Although there might be 
many who in the past had been hostile to the 
British flag, he could vouch for it that they would 
ten times rather be under the British than under 
the German flag.' 

"The German chancellor is equally unfortunate 
in his reference to the colonial empire. So far from 
British policy having been 'recklessly egotistic/ 
it has resulted in a great rally of affection and 
common interest by all the British dominions and 
dependencies, among which there is not one that 
is not aiding Great Britain by soldiers or other 
contributions, or both, in this war. 

"With regard to the matter of treaty obligations 
generally, the German chancellor excuses the 
breach of Belgium's neutrality by military neces- 
sity, at the same time making a virtue of having 
respected the neutrality of Holland and Switzer- 
land, and saying that it does not enter his head to 
touch the neutrality of the Scandinavian countries 
— a virtue which admittedly is only practiced in 
the absence of temptation from self-interest and 



124 Causes and Consequences 

military advantage does not seem greatly worth 
vaunting. 

"To the chancellor's concluding statement, that 
to the German sword is intrusted the care of free- 
dom for the European peoples and states, the 
treatment of Belgium is a sufficient answer/' 

NOTE TO PAGE 16 

The following special cable appeared in the New York 
Times of September 16, 1914: 
"London, Sept., 15. — Under date of Antwerp, Sunday, 

The Standard publishes this morning the following story 

from a correspondent, whose good faith the editor of The 

Standard guarantees, but whose name he refuses to give: 

'One of the blackest pages in the invasion of Belgium is 
the attacking of Aerschot, and the murder of the Burgo- 
master and his son. 

'I had the story from a resident of Aerschot, who is now 
a refugee in Antwerp. He said that every word was true. 

'When the German troops under Gen. von Boehn entered 
Aerschot the one desire of the Burgomaster was to save his 
town and people from the dreadful fate of Lou vain. He 
awaited the Germans at the entrance to the town, and to 
Gen. von Boehn made offers of hospitality. 

'The General was gracious enough, and said that so long 
as everybody in the place showed the quietest demeanor the 
town and the lives of those in it were safe. If not, the 
reprisals would be pitiless. 

'The Burgomaster offered the hospitality of his own house 
to the General and his office, rs and this was also accepted. 

'Gen. von Boehn, with his Chief of Staff and another 
officer, took up their quarters under the roof of the Mayor, 



of the War of 1914 125 

where everything possible was done for their comfort. At 
night the General and his officers dined with the family, 
consisting of the Burgomaster and his wife and their son 
and daughter. 

'The meal progressed with every sign of geniality, and the 
conduct of the officers was perfectly respectful and normal, 
but toward the end of the dinner they drank very freely 
and kept on drinking afterward. By the time everybody 
had retired to bed the three Germans were all very much 
the worse for drink. 

'In the early hours of the morning the members of the 
household were roused by a shriek from the room occupied 
by the daughter. The son rushed in and found his sister 
struggling in the arms of the Chief of Staff, who was still 
tipsy. 

'The young man, roused to a frenzy, attacked the scoun- 
drel. There was a firece struggle, which ended in the son 
shooting the Chief of Staff. 

'The tragedy was witnessed by most of the household, 
including the male and female servants, but the shot did 
not arouse the General and the other officer, drunkenly 
asleep in their beds. The terrified household had to wait 
until morning for the denouement of the tragedy. 

'The next morning the body of the Chief of Staff was 
discovered by the officer. The General was terribly cold 
in his wrath. 

'"The price must be paid,' he said. 

'The Burgomaster, his wife, son and daughter, and even 
the servants, pleaded pitifully, but Gen. von Boehn knew 
his duty. 

'The Burgomaster, his son, and two men-servants were 
put against the wall and shot. 

'The carnage in the streets, with burning, hacking, and 
stabbing followed.' 

The Times on Monday reprinted from The World of 



126 Causes and Consequences 

Sunday last an interview with Gen. von Boehn, Commander 
of the Ninth Imperial Field Army, sent from Renaix, Bel- 
gium, on Sept. 9, by E. Alexander Powell, The World's 
correspondent at Antwerp. The interview, Mr. Powell 
wrote, took place at the General's request, after he had 
heard that Powell was collecting a list of specific, authen- 
ticated outrages by German soldiers in Belgium territory 
The General began by asserting that the charges agains, 
the German troops were 'lies," Mr. Powell's story continued m 

'Three days ago, General,' I said, 'I was at Aerschot' 
The whole town now is but a ghastly, blackened ruin.' 

'When we entered Aerschot,' was the reply, 'the son of 
the;Burgomaster came into a room, drew a revolver, and 
assassinated my Chief of Staff. What followed was only 
retribution. The townspeople got only what they deserved.' 

'But why wreak your vengence on women and children?' 
I asked. 

'None has been killed,' the General asserted positively. 

The interview went on to quote Gen. von Boehn as 
saying when told that Powell had seen their mutilated 
bodies that the women and children must have gone into 
the streets when firing was going on." 

It would be as unwise as unfair to accept the 
ex parte statements of her enemies as conclusive 
proof that German troops have been guilty of 
individual "atrocities." So far as reported cases 
have been investigated the tendency of such 
investigation has been to disprove them. General 
French, himself, characterizes the charges of ill- 
treatment of wounded captives by German soldiers 
as "greatly exaggerated." The foregoing excerpt 
from the New York Times is inserted here, not 
for the purpose of showing any departure of the 



of the War of 1914 127 

German army from a normal standard of soldiers* 
morals in time of war, but as a thoroughly authen- 
ticated set of facts that illustrate the peculiar 
attitude of German militarism where a civilian, 
no matter how provoked, kills, wounds, strikes or 
even insults a man in German uniform. Upon 
that point the evidence submitted above is, it is 
true, merely cumulative. The Official records of 
the recent Zabern affair have, it would seem 
already, thoroughly shown to the world the 
peculiar relation of soldier to civilian that exists 
today in Germany alone, among all the civilized 
nations. 

No doubt every member of the "militant" — 
now the dominant — party in Germany would 
condemn the action of the drunken staff-officer 
who met his death "in a room" (according to 
General von Boehn), yet would emphatically 
agree that it was "necessary" to kill not only the 
brother, who had sought to protect his sister's 
honor, but also the other male members of the 
household who, by some strange course of German 
military reasoning, shared his responsibility though 
not his "guilt." 

The original misdeed might have been committed 
by a soldier serving under any flag; but, had his 
comrades been American, French or English 
soldiers they would have regarded the action of 
the brother with a feeling akin to gratitude, 
certainly with a sense of relief. 



128 Causes and Consequences 



NOTE TO PAGES 28-69 

After the first edition of this book had gone to press Austria 
made public the following : 

Austria-Hungary looks upon this war as a purely defensive 
one, which has been forced on her by the agitation directed 
by Russia against her very existence. Austria-Hungary 
has given many proofs in late years of her peaceful intention. 
She refrained from any interference with arms in the Balkan 
War, though her interests were at stake. Subsequent 
events have proved what a serious danger the increase in 
territory and prestige which it brought Servia were for 
Austria-Hungary. Servia's ambitions have since grown 
and have been solely directed against the Dual Monarchy. 
Russia has tacitly approved of Servia's action, because 
Russian statesmen wish to form an iron ring of enemies 
around Austria-Hungary and Germany in order that Russia's 
grasp on Constantinople and on Asia should never again be 
meddled with. 

Austro-Hungarian soldiers are fighting for their homes 
and for the maintenance of their country, the Russians are 
fighting to help the Russian Czar to gain the rule of the 
world, to destroy all his neighbors who may be dangerous 
to Russian ambitions. England is helping the Russians to 
oust her German rival. She feared for some time that 
German culture and German scientific methods would prove 
the stronger in a peaceful competition, and she now hopes to 
crush Germany with the help of Russia and France. And 
France is fighting to win back Alsace-Lorraine, to take her 
revenge on Germany, which the French Nation has been 
aiming at for the last forty-four years. 

That is how Austria-Hungary looks upon the war. She 



of the War of 1914 129 

never wished for territorial increase, she wished for peace 
and that her people should develop in safety. 

Germany equally has nothing to gain by a war, but Ger- 
many knows that Austria-Hungary's enemies are her enemies 
and that the dismemberment of the Hapsburg monarchy 
would mean the isolation of the German Empire. 

And so, after all efforts to keep Russia and England from 
breaking the peace of Europe had failed, she drew her sword 
to defend her and her allies' (ally's) interests. 

Truth and honor are on the side of the two empires in 
this war. The unspeakable inventions and prevarications 
published by the French, Russian and English press in the 
last weeks alone must prove to the American people who can 
afford to tell the truth and nothing but the truth in this war. 

The Austro-Hungarian and German people have a clear 
conscience and need fear no misrepresentation of their 
action." 



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